MINITABBASICS

AfterstartingMINITAB,youllseeaSessionwindowaboveandaworksheetbelow.
TheSessionwindowdisplaysnongraphicaloutputsuchastablesofstatisticsand
charactergraphs.Aworksheetiswhereweenter,name,view,andeditdata.Atany
point,thesessionorworksheetwindow(whicheveriscurrentlyactive)maybeprintedby
clickingontheprinticon(thirdfromleftattopofscreen)andclickingonOK.
Themenubaracrossthetopcontainsthemainmenus:File,Edit,Manip,Calc,Stat,
Graph,Editor,Window,andHelp.BeneaththemenubaristheToolbarwhichprovides
shortcutsforseveralimportantactions.
Intheinstructionsthatfollow,texttobetypedwillbeunderlined.Menuinstructionswill
besetinboldfacetypewiththeentriesseparatedbypointers.
STORINGDATA
Eachdatasetisstoredinacolumn,designatedbyaCfollowedbyanumber.For
example,C1standsforColumn1.Thecolumndesignationsaredisplayedalongthetop
oftheworksheet.Thenumbersattheleftoftheworksheetrepresentpositionswithina
columnandarereferredtoasrows.Eachrectangleoccurringattheintersectionofa
columnandarowiscalledacell.Itcanholdoneobservation.
Theactivecellhastheworksheetcursorinsideitandadarkrectanglearoundit.Toenter
orchangeanobservationinacell,wefirstmakethecellactiveandthentypethevalue.
Directlybeloweachcolumnlabelintheworksheetisacelloptionallyusedfornaming
thecolumn.Tonamethecolumn,weclickonthiscellandtypethedesiredname.
ExampleA:Supposewewanttostoreheights,ininches,offemalerecitationmembers
[64,65,61,70,65,66,...]intocolumnC1andnamethecolumnFHTS.Justclickin
thenamecellforthiscolumn,typeFHTS,andpresstheEnterkey.Thentype64,
Enter,65,Enter,61,Enter,andsoon.
ExampleB:Tostoremaleheights,namecolumnC2MHTSandenterthosedata
valuesinthiscolumn.

DESCRIPTIVESTATISTICSANDGRAPHS
ExampleC:Forsamplesize,mean,median,5%trimmedmean,standarddeviation,
minimum,maximum,andquartilesoffemaleheightdata,
1.ChooseStat>BasicStatistics>DisplayDescriptiveStatistics...
2.SpecifyFHTSintheVariablestextbox
3.ClickOK
Forhistogram(D),stemplot(E),andboxplot(F)offemaleheightdata,
ExampleD:
1.ChooseGraph>Histogram...
2.SpecifyFHTSintheXtextboxforGraph1
3.ClickOK
ExampleE:
1.ChooseGraph>StemandLeaf...
2.SpecifyFHTSintheVariablestextbox
3.ClickOK
ExampleF:
1.ChooseGraph>Boxplot...
2.SpecifyFHTSintheYtextboxforGraph1
3.ClickOK
ExampleG:Tocombinefemaleandmalerecitationmembersheightsandfindtheir
10%trimmedmean,
1.ChooseManip>Stack/Unstack>StackColumns
2.SpecifyFHTSandMHTSwithaspacebetweenthemascolumnstobestackedand
HTSintheStorethestackeddatain:box(ClickOK)
3.ChooseManip>Sort
4.SpecifyHTSascolumntobesorted,specifySORTEDHTSintheStoresorted
columnsin:box,andHTSintheSortbycolumnbox
5.Makeanewcolumnforthetrimmeddataasfollows:ChooseManip>Copycolumns
andspecifySORTEDHTSintheCopyfromcolumns:box;specifyTRIMMEDHTSin
theTocolumnsbox.
Since10%ofabout20valuesisabout2,deletethesmallesttwoandlargesttwoheights
bychoosingManip>Deleterows,specifying1:219:20intheDeleterowsboxand
TRIMMEDHTSintheFromcolumnsbox
6.ChooseStat>BasicStatistics>DisplayDescriptiveStatistics
7.SpecifyTRIMMEDHTSintheVariablesbox
8.ClickOK
Themeanofthisreduceddatasetisactuallythe10%trimmedmean.

RANDOMSAMPLING
ExampleH:WecanuseMINITABtorandomlyselect5from100students.Assume
theirnamesareinanalphabeticallist,wherethefirstnamecorrespondstothenumber1
andthelastcorrespondstothenumber100.
1.ChooseCalc>MakePatternedData>SimpleSetofNumbers...
2.TypeNUMBERSintheStorePatternedDatatextbox
3.ClickintheFromfirstvaluetextboxandtype1
4.ClickintheTolastvaluetextboxandtype100
5.ClickOK
6.ChooseCalc>RandomData>SampleFromColumns...
7.Type5inthesmalltextboxafterSample
8.ClickintheSample...rowsfromcolumnstextboxandspecifyNUMBERS
9.ClickintheStoresampleintextboxandtypeSAMPLE
10.ClickOK
STATISTICALINFERENCE;CONFIDENCEINTERVALS
ExampleI:Assumeheights(ininches)offemalerecitationmemberstobearandom
sampletakenfromheightsofallfemalecollegestudents,whosemeanheightisunknown
[actually,itisabout65]andstandarddeviationis2.5.Usesampleheightstoobtaina
90%confidenceintervalforpopulationmeanheight.
1.ChooseStat>BasicStatistics>1SampleZ...
2.SpecifyFHTSintheVariablestextbox
3.SelecttheConfidenceintervaloptionbutton
4.ClickintheLeveltextboxandtype90
5.ClickintheSigmatextboxandtype2.5
6.ClickOK
ExampleJ:Assumeheights(ininches)ofmalerecitationmemberstobearandom
sampletakenfromheightsofallmalecollegestudents,whosemeanandstandard
deviationareunknown.Usesampleheightstoobtaina99%confidenceintervalfor
populationmeanheight.
1.ChooseStat>BasicStatistics>1Samplet...
2.SpecifyMHTSintheVariablestextbox
3.SelecttheConfidenceintervaloptionbutton
4.ClickintheLeveltextboxandtype99
5.ClickOK

STATISTICALINFERENCE;HYPOTHESISTESTS
ExampleK:Testthenullhypothesisthatheights(ininches)offemalerecitation
membersarearandomsampletakenfromapopulationwithmean65againstthe
alternativethatthemeanisdifferentfrom65.Assumepopulationstandarddeviationto
be2.5.
1.ChooseStat>BasicStatistics>1SampleZ...
2.SpecifyFHTSintheVariablestextbox
3.SelecttheTestmeanoptionbutton
4.ClickintheTestmeantextboxandtype65
5.ClickthearrowbuttonattherightoftheAlternativedropdownlistboxandselect
notequalto
6.ClickintheSigmatextboxandtype2.5
7.ClickOK
ExampleL:Dosonstendtobetallerthantheirfathers?Testthenullhypothesisthatthe
difference:(heightsofmalerecitationmembersminusheightsoftheirfathers)iszerovs.
thealternativethatthedifferenceispositive.Firstentermalerecitationmembersheights
inacolumnSONSandtheircorrespondingfathersheightsinacolumnFATHERS.
1.ChooseStat>BasicStatistics>Pairedt...
2.ClickintheFirstSampletextboxandspecifySONS
3.ClickintheSecondSampletextboxandspecifyFATHERS
4.ClickintheOptionsbutton
5.ClickintheTestMeantextboxandtype0
6.ClickthearrowbuttonattherightoftheAlternativedropdownlistboxandselect
greaterthan
7.ClickOK
8.ClickOK
ExampleM:UseMINITABtoverifythatfemaleheightsaresignificantlylessthanmale
heights.
1.ChooseStat>BasicStatistics>2Samplet...
2.SelecttheSamplesindifferentcolumnsoptionbutton
3.ClickintheFirsttextboxandspecifyFHTS
4.ClickintheSecondtextboxandspecifyMHTS
5.ClickthearrowbuttonattherightoftheAlternativedropdownlistboxandselect
lessthan
6.UnselecttheAssumeequalvariancescheckboxifitisselected(toindicatethatwe
arenotassumingpopulationsoffemaleandmaleheightstohaveequalstandard
deviations)
7.ClickOK

REGRESSION
ExampleN:UseMINITABtoexaminetherelationshipbetweenheightsofmale
recitationmembersandheightsoftheirfathers.
1.ChooseGraph>Plot
2.SpecifySONSintheYtextboxforGraph1
3.ClickintheXtextboxforGraph1andspecifyFATHERS
4.ClickOK
5.ChooseStat>Regression>Regression...
6.SpecifySONSintheResponsetextbox
7.ClickinthePredictorstextboxandspecifyFATHERS
8.ClickOK