Week 2: Introduction to Minitab
Aims
To be able to open Minitab
To be familiar with the terms 'Data Window', 'Session Window' and 'Worksheet'
To be able to enter data into Minitab from the keyboard
To be able to save a worksheet to disk and subsequently retrieve it.
In order to learn about statistics, it is important that you can perform statistical calculations quickly and without the drudgery of using a hand calculator. This course makes extensive use of the statistical program Minitab, which is made available to you under the terms of the site licence held by the University.
The first thing to do this week is to install Minitab on your PC. To do this you need the CD, which will come with some short documentation on paper. You will also need the licence number. Once you have these you can install the program by following the instructions in the documentation, on the CD and, once the process has started, on the screen.
Once the program is installed you can learn how to use Minitab by following the Minitab Tutorial that is supplied with the program. To do this click on Start on the task bar, then Programs and then on MINITAB 13 for Windows. This will give you a choice which includes Minitab tutorial. The program itself can be run by selecting MINITAB, the item with the blue icon.
Minitab is designed for users to be able to teach themselves how to use the program with the help of the on-line material. There is also material on the manufacturers website, www.minitab.com. However, in addition some documents have been prepared specially for this course. This allows particular emphasis to be placed on the items that are used in the course, and to pay less attention to those aspects we do not need. It may be best to try these documents to start with, turning to the on-line material if you feel the need to consolidate your knowledge.
When learning Minitab, you should keep two things in mind.