Brief Overview on Minitab Statistical Software

Minitab Statistical Software has the menu items.

File Edit Data Calc Stat Graph Editor Tools Window Help

You can use the Stat menu to select a topic among the following items and carry out the
relevant analysis.

• Basic statistics
• Regression
• Analysis of variance
• DOE (factorial, response surface, mixture, and Taguchi designs)
• Control charts
• Quality tools (including planning tools, process capability, acceptance sampling,
and gage study)
• Reliability/survival (including distribution analysis, regression with life data, accelerated
life testing, probit analysis, warranty prediction, test plans, and growth curves)
• Multivariate analysis
• Time series
• Tables
• Nonparametrics

Similarly, the following graphs in the Graph menu can be obtained by appropriate selection.

• Scatterplot
• Matrix plot
• Marginal plot
• Histogram
• Dotplot
• Stem-and-leaf plot
• Probability plot
• Empirical CDF
• Probability distribution plot
• Boxplot
• Interval plot
• Individual value plot
• Line plot
• Bar chart
• Pie chart
• Time series plot
• Area graph
• Contour plot
• 3D scatterplot
• 3D surface plot

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Using the Help menu, Minitab provides statistical guidance for interpreting statistical tables
and graphs. For instance, if you ask for help to explain the boxplot and the stem-and-leaf
plot, the following information is displayed.

Boxplot

Stem-and-leaf plot
Displays data to show its shape and distribution. It is similar to a histogram; however a stem-
and-leaf plot shows exact data points making the calculation of the mean, median, and mode
much easier.
In a stem-and-leaf plot each data value is split into a "stem" and a "leaf." The "leaf" is usually
the last digit of the number and the other digits to the left of the "leaf" form the "stem."
Suppose we collect the daily high temperatures for the month of June, a stem-and-leaf plot
would look like this:

Stem-and-Leaf Display: Temperature

3 6 899
4 7 0
6 7 33
10 7 4455
15 7 66777
15 7 88
13 8 00
11 8 223
8 8 44
6 8 667
3 8 8
2 9 01

There are 30 data points.

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Data count - The first column shows the data count up to the median and then down again.
The count for a row above the median represents the total count for that row and the rows
above it. The value for a row below the median represents the total count for that row and the
rows below it.

Stem and leaf - The first stem is "6" with three leaves: 8, 9, and 9. This means that three days
were in the sixties: 68, 69, 69.

Fourteen days were in the seventies: 70, 73, 73, 74, 74, 75, 75, 76, 76, 77, 77, 77, 78, and 78.

Eleven days were in the eighties and 2 days were in the nineties.

The number "125" would be split as: stem 12, leaf 5, and the number "8124" would be split
as: stem 812, leaf 4.

Minitab displays the count, stem, leaf for each row. The counts for rows above and below the
median are cumulative. The count for a row above the median represents the total count for
that row and the rows above it. The value for a row below the median represents the total
count for that row and the rows below it. In the example, the median for the sample is 77.5, so
both the fifth and sixth row have cumulative count of 15.

Note The "bin width" is automatically chosen by Minitab. Here there are 2 possible leaves for
every stem, but this is not always the case. In this example, the first stem represents data
values of 68 or 69. The second stem represents data values of 70 and 71, and so on.

You can also ask help for concepts such as coefficient of variation or probability plots, the
following information is provided.

Coefficient of variation
A measure of relative variability, equal to the standard deviation divided by the mean
(Minitab multiplies the quotient by 100). Because it is a dimensionless number, It is useful in
comparing the dispersion of populations with significantly different means.

For example, you are the quality control inspector at a milk bottling plant that bottles small
and large containers of milk. You take a sample of each product and observe that the mean
volume of the small containers is 1 cup with a standard deviation of 0.08 cup, and the mean
volume of the large containers is 1 gallon (16 cups) with a standard deviation of 0.4 cups.
Although the standard deviation of the gallon container is five times greater that the standard
deviation of the small container, their coefficients of variation (COVs) support a different
conclusion:

Large container: COV = 100 * 0.4 cups / 16 cups = 2.5

Small container: COV = 100 * 0.08 cups / 1 cup = 8

The coefficient of variation of the small container is over three times greater than that of the
large container. In other words, although the large container has a greater standard deviation,
the small container has much more variability relative to its mean.

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Graph > Probability Plot

Use probability plots to help you determine whether a particular distribution fits your data or
to compare different sample distributions.

Minitab calculates the cumulative distribution function (cdf) and associated confidence
intervals based on parameters estimated from your data. (You can also provide historical
parameters using distribution options.) Parameter estimates or historical parameters are
displayed in an output table along with an Anderson-Darling (AD) goodness-of-fit statistic
and associated p-value, and the number of observations.

If the distribution fits your data:

· The plotted points will roughly form a straight line.

· The plotted points will fall close to the fitted distribution line

· The Anderson-Darling statistic will be small, and the associated p-value will be larger
than your chosen α-level. (Commonly chosen levels for α include 0.05 and 0.10.)