The noncentrality parameter for a contrast test in a one-way analysis of variance is based on the dot product of 2 vectors whose geometric meaning in a Euclidian space offers mnemonic hints about its constituents. Additionally, the noncentrality parameters for a set of orthogonal contrasts sum up to the noncentrality parameter for the omnibus "F" test. The author provides an example of Helmert contrasts to demonstrate the use of the noncentrality parameters in contrast tests. (Contains 1 figure.)