 Introduction to Minitab

 History of Minitab
 Excel Or Minitab
 The Minitab user interface
 Minitab at a Glance
◦ Window Types: Session Window & Data Window
◦ Menu Bar : File Menu
◦ Menu Bar : Edit Menu
◦ Menu Bar : Manip Menu
◦ Menu Bar : Calc Menu
◦ Menu Bar : Stat Menu
◦ Menu Bar : Graph Menu
◦ Menu Bar : Editor Menu
◦ Menu Bar - Graph Window Editor Menu
◦ Menu Bar - Window Menu
◦ Menu Bar – Help Menu
 Data Entry & Manipulation
 Short Cut Keys
 Data Types
 Ways to Analyze Data
 Loading Data In Minitab
 Opening an existing Worksheet (Minitab type file)
 Importing data (Non – Minitab type files)
Opening a Excel File
Opening a Text File
 Copying data to Minitab
 Saving data
 Doing Calculations with variables
 Statistical Analysis
 Minitab, originally intended as a tool for
teaching statistics, is a general-purpose
statistical software package designed for
easy interactive use.
 Minitab is well suited for instructional
applications, but is also powerful enough to
be used as a primary tool for analyzing
research data.
 Minitab is a statistics package developed at the
Pennsylvania State University by researchers
Barbara F. Ryan, Thomas A. Ryan, Jr., and
Brian L. Joiner in 1972.
 It began as a light version of OMNITAB, a
statistical analysis program by NIST;
 The documentation for OMNITAB was
published 1986.
 Minitab is distributed by Minitab Inc, a
privately owned company headquartered
in State College Pennsylvania Minitab Inc.
  Minitab:  Excel:
Easier / Faster Graphing  Easier Data Entry
Graphs & Data Analysis in  No pre-set data
1-Step formatting required for
Report Writing tool within analysis
Minitab  Need multiple tools &
Requires Stacked Data for Steps for Data Analysis &
most Tools Graphs
Minitab is a statistical
analysis software package
 Minitab & Excel:
 Multiple Windows/Worksheets within one main file.

 Data Analysis Capability

 The Minitab user interface Before you start your analysis, open
Minitab and examine the Minitab user interface. From the
Windows taskbar, choose Start > All Programs > Minitab >
Minitab 17 Statistical Software.
 By default, Minitab opens with two windows visible and one
window minimized.
 Session window The window displays the results of your
analyses in text format. Also, in this window, you can enter
session commands instead of using Minitab’s menus.
 Worksheet The worksheet, which is similar to a spreadsheet, is
where you enter and arrange your data. You can open multiple
worksheets.
 Project Manager The third window, the Project Manager, is
minimized below the worksheet.
 Key
Functions
•Worksheet File
Management

Save

Print

Data Import
 Key
Functions
•Worksheet File
Edits

Select
Delete
Copy
Paste
Dynamic
Links
 Key
Functions
•Data
Manipulation

Subset/Split
Sort
Rank
Row Data
Manipulation
Column
Data
Manipulation
Key Functions
•Calculation
Capabilities

Column
Calculations
Column/Row
Statistics
Data
Standardization
Data Extraction
Data
Generation
 Key
Functions
•Advanced
Statistical Tools
and Graphs

Hypothesis
Tests
Regression
Design of
Experiments
Control
Charts
Reliability
Testing
 Key
Functions
•Data Plotting
Capabilities

Scatter Plot
Trend Plot
Box Plot
Contour/3 D
plotting
Dot Plots
Probability
Plots
Stem & Leaf
Plots
 Key
Functions
•Advanced Edit
and Display
Options

Font
Connectivit
y Settings
 Key
Functions
•Advanced Edit
and Display
Options

Brushing
Graph
Manipulation
Colors
Orientation
Font
 Key
Functions
•Advanced
Window Display
Options

Window
Managemen
t/Display
Toolbar
Manipulatio
n/Display
 Key
Functions
•Help and
Tutorials

Subject
Searches

Statguide

Multiple
Tutorials

Minitab on
the Web
In a project, you can manipulate data, perform analyses, and generate graphs.
Projects contain one or more worksheets.
◦ MPJ for Project Files (Ex:Data.mpj)
 Worksheets
 Graphs
 Session window output
 Session command history
 Dialog box settings
 Window layout
◦ MTW For Data Files (Worksheets only Ex:Data.mtw)
 Constants
 Matrices
 Design objects
 Column descriptions
 Worksheet descriptions
◦ MFG For Graphs (Graphs only Ex: Pareto1.mgf)
 Control C / Control V
◦ Copies data / Pastes data
 Alt Tab
◦ Moves you from one Windows application to another
◦ Ex:
 Minitab to PowerPoint for making presentations
 Excel to Minitab for copying data
 Control E
◦ Pulls up previous menu
 Control Tab
◦ Moves you from Data, Session, History, and Info
Windows
 Numerical: Numerical data is the only type Minitab will
use for statistical calculations. Numerical data is
aligned on the right side of the column. Minitab will not
recognize numbers with commas as numbers, but as
text.

 Text: Text cannot be used for computations. Though

“text” generally means words or characters, numbers
can be classified as text. If column 1 has text in it, the
column label will change from C1 to C1-T. Data types
can be changed.

 Date/Time: Minitab recognizes 3/5/00 as a date, but will

store this internally as a number so you can manipulate
it. The column label will indicate a date by C1-D and a
time by C1-T.
 Analysis in Minitab can be done in two ways: using the Built-In
routines or using command language in the Session window.
These two can be used interchangeably.
◦ Built-In routines Most of the functions needed in basic and more
advanced statistical analysis are found as Minitab Built-In
routines. These routines are accessed through the menu bar. To
use the menu commands, click on an item in the menu bar to open
a menu, click on a menu item to execute a command or open a
submenu or dialog box.

◦ Command Language To be able to type commands in the Session

window, you must obtain the “MTB>” prompt. All commands are
then entered after the “MTB>” prompt. All command lines are free
format, in other words, all text may de entered in upper or
lowercase letters anywhere in the line.
 Minitab files are organized as “projects”. Each
project will contain all the data you use and the
commands and analysis you perform on the
data.
 You can open a new, empty worksheet at any
time. In this empty worksheet you can copy,
paste and type the data you need by simply
working on the worksheet as you would on any
spreadsheet.
 Within a project you can open one or more files that contain data. When you
open a file, you copy the contents of the file into the current Minitab project.
 To open a Minitab type file
◦ Choose FILE -> OPEN WORKSHEET
◦ Look for the file you want to open. Should be a .MTW or .MPJ type file.
Select the file and click Open.
◦ If you get a message box indicating that the content of the file will be
added to the current project, check “Do not display this message again”.
◦ Click OK.
 Opening Excel files
◦ Choose FILE -> OPEN
WORKSHEET
◦ In the field “File of Type”
select EXCEL (*.xls,
*.xlsx) from the drop down
menu.
◦ Choose the file you wish
to open, and click Open.
 Opening a text file
◦ 1. Choose FILE -> OPEN WORKSHEET
◦ 2. In the field “File of Type” select TEXT (*.txt) from the
drop down menu.
◦ 3. Click OPTIONS and the following dialog box will
appear.
◦ 4. Go to the “SINGLE CHARACTER SEPARATOR”
option. The data on the text file is usually separated by
spaces or tabs. Choose the appropriate option. If you are
unsure how the data is separated, another option is to
use the number of data rows. Just introduce the number
of data rows in the “NUMBER OF DATA ROWS” box.
◦ 5. Click OK.
 Copying data to Minitab works like copying data to any
other type of spreadsheet (eg. Excel).
◦ Copy the data you wish to use in Minitab.
◦ Go to the position where you want to copy the data in the
desired Minitab worksheet. If you wish to paste a cell
with a Header or Name, make sure that you stand in the
variable name cell (cell below the number of the column
C1, C2, etc).
◦ Go to EDIT -> PASTE CELLS to paste the data.
◦ Sometimes when you copy data, Minitab reads it in a
wrong format, eg. As a text when is numeric. To solve
this problem, select the problematic column(s) and go to
DATA -> CHANGE DATA TYPE -> CHOOSE THE
DESIRED FORMAT. The most useful format is numeric.
The following dialog box appears. Choose the variables you want to modify
and where you want to store them. The storage variables can be the same
variables as the ones you are modifying.
Then hit OK.
 You can save two different things in Minitab. You can save
the worksheet by itself, or the entire project. Saving the
worksheet as a separate file is a very good habit. That way
you have the data stored in a place where you can always
go back to it, even if the data you are working with in a
given project is corrupted. To save the data in a worksheet
by itself,
◦ 1. Select FILE > SAVE CURRENT WORKSHEET AS.
◦ 2. Use the arrow beside the Save in field to select the Floppy (A) or
location of your diskette.
◦ 3. In the File Name field type the name of the worksheet. Minitab will
automatically add the extension MTW for Minitab worksheet.
◦ 4. Click Save.
 Minitab allows you to do calculations with the variables that
you are using. For example you can add and multiply
variables.
 In order to do these calculations you should go to CALC ->
CALCULATOR
 The following dialog box appears
This is basically a calculator
that allows doing many
calculations with the variables.
Basic functions are found in the
number pad and more
sophisticated ones are found in
the functions box to the right of
the number pad.
 To make sure that your results
is not overwriting a variable,
name a new variable in the
“STORE RESULTS IN
VAVRIABLE” field in the top of
the calculator.
 To add variables name the
variable where you want to
store the results.
 Select the first variable, press
the “+” sign and select the
second variable (and so on for
more than two variables). You
should obtain something
similar to the window in the
right
The result will then be shown in the worksheet window.
 Look for the “NATURAL LOG” or
“LOG BASE 10” (depending on the
one you need) in the function list. A
shortcut to finding the functions is
to choose “LOGARITHM” from the
function drop down menu.
 Inside the parenthesis, change
number for the variable name.
Highlighting “NUMBER” and then
selecting the variable you want to
modify does this.
 Make sure that you have defined a
variable where you want to store
results, by putting the name in the
“STORE RESULT IN VARIABLE”
box.
 The result will appear in the worksheet window.
 Some statistical analysis will need to separate by groups
according to characteristics that are contained in the data.
Logical functions are particularly useful in these cases.
◦ Choose the variable you want to do the logical test to. Here
we are looking at the “SEX” variable.
◦ Choose the logical test you want to use. Here we want to see
which observations have the variable “SEX” equal 1. That is,
which observations are males.
◦ Make sure that you have indicated a variable in which to
store your results, by typing the name of your result
variable in the “STORE RESULT IN VARIABLE” box.
◦ Please see the next slide for reference.
The result variable will be a binary variable (variable of 1s and 0s)
where 1 indicates the logical test is true and 0 the test is false. The
result variable will appear in the Worksheet window.
 You can enter data in a Minitab worksheet in the
following ways:

◦ Type the data directly into the worksheet.

◦ Copy and paste the data from other applications.
◦ Import the data from Microsoft Excel files or text files.

After your data are in Minitab, you might need to

edit cells or reorganize columns and rows to prepare
the data for analysis. Some common manipulations
are stacking, sub setting, specifying column names,
and editing data values.
Descriptive statistics are brief descriptive coefficients
that summarize a given data set, which can be either a
representation of the entire population or a sample of it.

Descriptive statistics are broken down into measures of

central tendency and measures of variability, or spread.

Measures of central tendency include the mean, median

and mode, while measures of variability include
the standard deviation or variance, the minimum and
maximum variables, and the kurtosis and skewness.
 Central Tendency. The central tendency of a distribution is
an estimate of the "center" of a distribution of values.
There are three major types of estimates of central
tendency:
◦ Mean
◦ Median
◦ Mode

 Dispersion. Dispersion refers to the spread of the values

around the central tendency.
◦ Standard Deviation
◦ Range
 Mean or average is probably the most commonly used
method of describing central tendency. To compute the
mean all you do is add up all the values and divide by
the number of values.

◦ For example, the mean or average quiz score is determined by

summing all the scores and dividing by the number of students
taking the exam. For example, consider the test score values:

15, 20, 21, 20, 36, 15, 25, 15

The sum of these 8 values is 167, so the mean is 167/8 = 20.875.

 The Median is the score found at the exact middle of the
set of values. One way to compute the median is to list all
scores in numerical order, and then locate the score in the
center of the sample.
◦ For example, if there are 500 scores in the list, score #250
would be the median. If we order the 8 scores shown above, we
would get:
15,15,15,20,20,21,25,36

◦ There are 8 scores and score #4 and #5 represent the halfway

point. Since both of these scores are 20, the median is 20. If the
two middle scores had different values, you would have to
interpolate to determine the median.
 The mode is the most frequently occurring value in the set
of scores. To determine the mode, you might again order
the scores as shown above, and then count each one. The
most frequently occurring value is the mode.

◦ In our example, the value 15 occurs three times and is the

model. In some distributions there is more than one modal
value. For instance, in a bimodal distribution there are two
values that occur most frequently.

 Notice that for the same set of 8 scores we got three

different values -- 20.875, 20, and 15 -- for the mean,
median and mode respectively. If the distribution is truly
normal (i.e., bell-shaped), the mean, median and mode are
all equal to each other.
 The standard deviation is a measure of the spread of scores
within a set of data.
 The sample standard deviation formula is:

The population standard deviation formula is:

where,
s = sample standard deviation
n = number of scores in sample.
X =Sample Mean
σ = population standard deviation
Enter the column headings.
Column headings must be entered above Row 1.
Example:
 Enter “Temperature (F)” in the first cell in Column
1. *The first cell is above Row 1.
 Enter “Water Consumption (ounces)” in first cell in
Column 2. *The first cell is above Row 2. Enter the
data.
 Enter the corresponding temperatures and water
consumption in the appropriate column as shown.
Do not change the order of the items. Make sure the
items were entered as numbers not text.
Go to STATS -> Basic STATISTICS -> DISPLAY DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS
2. And a prompt window should appear. In the window select the variable(s)
you want to analyze and click ok.

In the Variables box, select C1 (Temperature).

3. Click OK.
4. Look in the Session window. You should see the following display
Terms in the output and some definitions
 N = number of data items in the sample that

 N* = number of items in the sample that are missing data (N* does not
show up when all the items in the sample have data, as in our example.)
 Mean = "average"

 Median = "middle number"

 TrMean= the 5% Trimmed Mean

 StDev = standard deviation

 SE Mean = standard error of the mean = standard deviation divided by the
square root of the sample size.
 Minimum = smallest data value • Maximum = largest data value • Q1 =
25th percentile = first quartile • Q3 = 75th percentile = third quartile
Go to STATS -> Graphical Summary
2. And a prompt window should appear. In the window select the
variable(s) you want to analyze and click ok.

In the Variables box, select C1 (Temperature).

3. Click OK.
4. Look in the Session window. You should see the following display
 Select FILE > SAVE CURRENT WORKSHEET AS.

 Use the arrow beside the Save in field to select the

Floppy (A) or location of your diskette.

 In the File Name field type the name of the

worksheet. Minitab will automatically add the
extension MTW for Minitab worksheet.

 Click Save
 Measurement Systems Analysis (MSA) is a key
component of establishing, improving and
maintaining quality systems. Whether you’re
engaged in a Six Sigma project or an ISO-9000
certification, an MSA helps you identify problems
with your measurement system and determine if
you can trust your data.
 The most common type of MSA is the Gage
repeatability and reproducibility (R&R) study. Most
Gage R&R studies assess the effects of two factors
on variation in your measurement system—
typically Operator and Part.
 The expanded study allows additional factors such
as Gage, Laboratory, Location, etc., to be evaluated,
in addition to Operator and Part.
 Unlike the standard study, missing data points are
allowed in the analysis for an expanded study.
 The interactions of the additional factors with
Operator and Part can also be evaluated.
 The sampling plan for the expanded study will
quickly grow beyond a reasonable size and will
require reducing the sample size of at least one
variable. For example, reducing the number of parts
from 10 to 5 is a common approach.
 As can be seen in the worksheet for this study’s 90-row dataset,
each operator measures each wafer on each of the three gages,
twice. Each row has a column that identifies the Operator, Gage,
Wafer and Thickness reading. Even though missing data is not
allowed in a Standard Gage R&R, an expanded study
accommodates missing data, as seen in Row 10 below.
Enter The Data
To carry out the analysis in Minitab, choose Stat > Quality Tools > Gage Study >
Gage R&R Study (Expanded).
Dialog Box will Appear.
Enter.
Part Number : Wafer. Operator: operator. Measurement : Thickness.
Additional Factor : Gage
Terms
Graph
 “Terms…” button and adding all main effects (Wafer, Operator,
and Gage) as well as all second-order terms—Wafer*Operator,
Wafer*Gage, and Operator*Gage.
 Finally, we select the graphs we would like to evaluate by
clicking the “Graphs…” button and completing the dialog box as
shown.
 Click OK.
The Gage Evaluation table also shows the relative importance of
each of the sources of variation. The variation due to Gage and
Wafer*Gage are the two strongest contributors to the overall
variation, each accounting for about 16% of Study Variation.