MINITAB I

Introduction

•   Data preparation and application of statistical techniques using statistical software.
•   Statistical Software
• R (Free software), Minitab, SPSS, SAS, Statistica, etc
•  What is STATISTICS?  
• A Science of Collection, Analysis, Interpretation or Explanation and Presentation of Data.
• Collection: Planning, Data Collection, Data Entering & Editing (Data Preparation). 
•  Analysis: Descriptive (Exploratory) and Inferential Analysis.

  What is MINITAB

 A software package that is used for data entry, editing, analysis and presentation.   

Interpretation…?

 Its up to you.

Introduction to MINITAB 
Minitab is a software package that use for statistical data analysis. There are lots of versions of Minitab. In this practical course we are learning Minitab 14
To start MINITAB 

• START→ Programs → Minitab 13 for windows → Minitab or 
• Double click the Minitab icon on the desktop

The MINITAB Environment

There are 5 windows 

Session window	The session window displays text output/results.Used to execute commands. (Ctrl+M)
Data window	Data windows are where you enter, edit and view the column data for each worksheet. (Ctrl+D)
Info window	The Info window summarizes each open worksheet. Choose which worksheet to view by picking from the drop down list. (Ctrl+I)
History window	The History window records all the commands you have used.
Graph window	Display graphs. You can have up to 15 graph windows open at a time.

To view all above windows,
In the menu bar, there is a tab called “Windows”
Managing Data
This section is about several data types that are used in Minitab.
Data Types
A worksheet can contain three types of data.

Numeric data	Numerical data is the only type Minitab will use for statistical calculations. Minitab will not recognize numbers with commas as numbers but will consider them text.
Text	Characters that can consist of letters, numbers, spaces and special characters
Date and Time	Minitab recognizes 3/5/14 as a date and 4:30 as a time but will store these internally as a number so you can manipulate them. The column label will indicate a date or time value by putting a D after the column name (for example C1-D).

Date format in MINITAB
                      mm/dd/yyyy
                                  eg: 02/25/2014

Naming Columns in Worksheet 

A Column Name can not 

• be longer than 31 characters 
• start with the symbol ' *'‟ 
• include the symbol ' # '

 Saving a MINITAB File 

In MINITAB 13, it has the capability of saving the entire work as a project, including all windows. (Session, worksheet, graphs etc) 

Otherwise we can save the content of each window as separate files.

1. Active the window you want to save.
2. Choose File Save< window type > as 
3. Select the relevant file type.
4. Enter a Name for the File. 
5. Click OK 

Issuing Commands 

In MINITAB, there are two ways to access commands. 

1. With menus
2. Using session commands 

Most commands use data in some way. Data are stored on worksheets, and project can contain many worksheets. When you issue command (by any method) that uses the data, the command act on the current worksheet. The current worksheet can be easily identified with three asterisks in the title. Numeric

Menu Commands 

Click on an item in the menu bar to open the menu, and then click on a menu item to execute the command, open a sub menu, or open a dialog box. 

Session Commands 

Session commands are a useful alternative to menu commands, especially when you want to repeat a group of actions or create an Exec.

 Enable the commands in the session window. 

It is very useful to practice, enable the commands in the session window before starting any important work with MINITAB. 

1. Select the session window.
2. Editor Enable Command. 

MTB > (MTB prompt) 

Formatting columns 

• Naming Columns 

           MTB > NAME C1=’Height’ C2=’Weight’ 

• To change the column width of the worksheet,  

→	C1	C2
	Height	Weight
1
2
3

 First Left Click on the Worksheet and then go to the following path. 

                   Editor →Column →Standard width 

• To change the column width of a particular column, 

                  Select the corresponding column,
                   Editor →Column → Width 

• Formatting a numeric column 

             If you want to change the number of decimal places in a relevant numeric column, Select the column,
               Editor →Format Column →Numeric….
(Automatically it will highlight the data type according to the selected column).

• Formatting a Date/Time column 

To change the format of a Date /Time column,
           Editor →Format Column →Date/Time…

Delete Rows
Manip → Delete Rows
Deletes Rows K……..K from column C……C and moves the remaining rows up to close the gap.
Ex: Delete 2nd, 5th & 6th rows from columns C1, C2 & C3.

C1	C2	C3
23	4	154
31	5	175
22	4	143
26	3	153
32	6	167
30	6	185
24	4	155

C1	C2	C3
23	4	154
22	4	143
26	3	153
24	4	155

Erase Variables 

Erase any combination of columns (including their names), constants, and matrices. 

Manip → Erase variables 

(MTB > Erase C1 K) 

To Exit MINITAB  

File → Exit