LOGON

Locate a  microcomputer using the Windows operating system.  (Minitab is not installed on Macs.)  You will need a ZOO username and password.  Login as usual.  

Double-click the Minitab icon on the desktop OR click  the START button in the southwest corner of your screen.  Then:
All Programs>Minitab 15 for Windows>Click on the MINITAB icon  to start the program.

THE MINITAB SCREEN

Your screen will be tiled with two windows. The SESSION window will be on top and the DATA window will be on the bottom.  Other windows are also open at start-up but will be hidden.  Follow Window>Project Manager  to see a list of all the open windows. Alternatively you can use the keystrokes (Ctrl+M, Ctrl+D, or Ctrl+I) to open the Main (Session), Data,  and Information (Project Manager) windows respectively.

Enter Text  
Click in the Session Window and enter your text string.  Highlight  and change to bold format.
Editor>Apply Font>Apply Title Font         (OR  Highlight then ALT 2)

Command Language Mode
Sometimes it's convenient to issue commands the old fashioned way, rather than  pointing and clicking.  This can be accomplished by enabling the command language.   Editor>Enable Commands.   You will be able to issue commands AND continue to operate in a menu driven environment.  For now remain in the menu driven mode.  Editor>Uncheck Enable Commands.

Enable Editing
In order to annotate output, editing capability must be turned on.  Accomplish this by:   Editor>Output Editable.

Always remember that help is available by clicking on Help in the menu bar.

Let's  read in a data set having 50 observations.

The results of the 1990 census included a state-by-state listing of population density.  The
accompanying table gives the number of people per square mile for each of the 50 states.

Go  here  to download the file to your hard drive or to a floppy disk.  ( Click on the link and you will be given the option of saving or opening the file.  If you are using an old browser hold down the SHIFT key while you click on the link.)

If you choose to save the file to disk rather than opening it immediately there are two ways to import the data.  (1) With Minitab running.   File>Open Worksheet> Go to the folder where you downloaded the file and double click on ex0334.mtw.  If you get the message "A copy of the content of this file will be added to the current project" -- say OK.  (2)  If Minitab is not running.  Just go to the folder where you downloaded the file and double click on ex0334.mtw.  This should start Minitab automatically.

Name your variable.  Highlight the cell under C1 and overwrite popDensi with DENSITY or any other name you might prefer.

Check the Project Manager Window.

Menus:  Window>Project Manager>Columns

        Name           Id       Count           Missing           Type

        DENSITY   C1            50                    0                N

Minimize the Project Manager Window.

SOME BASIC PROCEDURES

Descriptive Statistics.  Stat>Basic Statistics>Display Descriptive Statistics>enter C1 for variables>Statistics>Check Mean, Standard deviation, Variance,  Median, Minimum, Maximum, Skewness, and N nonmissing>OK >OK

Descriptive Statistics: DENSITY 

Descriptive Statistics: popDensi

Variable   N   Mean  StDev  Variance  Minimum  Median  Maximum  Skewness
DENSITY  50  166.1  235.2   55298.7      1.0    77.0   1042.0      2.47

 

Graph>Histogram>Simple>OK>double-click on C1>
Scale>Y-Scale Type>Density>OK>
Labels>Title> Population Density per Square Mile (1990)>
Footnote 1:> John A. Student, Stat 141, mm-dd-yy>OK>OK


 

You will need to include your name on everything that you intend to print.  This will make it possible for you to distinguish your work from that of many other students who might also be sending Minitab output to the printer.

Descriptive Statistics.  Make sure that your name has been entered in  the Session Window.  See "ENTER YOUR NAME"  above if you need to review the procedure.  Highlight what you don't need and use the scissors on the toolbar to cut it out.  (You get a chance to recover excised text with Paste on the toolbar or Edit>Paste on the menu bar).

File>Print Session Window>Printer Name>OK

File>Print Graph>Printer Name>OK

Start a new worksheet.  File>New>Minitab Project>OK>Save changes to>No

Data Entry.  Enter the names, height (inches) , and weight (pounds)  for five  hypothetical students.

Place your cursor in the data window and enter the following:

Notice that Column 1 becomes C1-T after text has been entered.  You may now analyze the information 
contained in columns 2 and 3 (C2 and C3) of the Minitab worksheet.

After entering large amounts of information into the worksheet, you will naturally want to save your work.

To save to your hard drive:
    File>Save Project As>[Move up to Local Disk(C:) > "folder of your choice"]
    File name>myfile>Save as type>Minitab Project (*.MPJ)>Save

At a later date you can use File>Open Project   to reopen "myfile"  and resume  your work with this data that you have created and saved.

From the menu bar

File>Exit>Save Changes to the Project Before Closing?>No

LOG OUT

Be sure to always log out.  This will reduce the possibility of your account being damaged either accidentally or deliberately.