Introduction to Minitab

Introduction

To perform the preliminary process analysis (e.g. assessing stability,

calculating center, analyzing variation, distribution,), you can use a
software called MINITAB.

Background

Minitab was first introduced at Penn State University in the late 70s. It
started as a mainframe program and later migrated to DOS and Windows.
It is used extensively in the academic world and in well known Six Sigma
companies (GE, Motorola,) and is easy to use.

Description

Minitab is a statistical calculation, analysis and data display tool.

It is NOT:
A spreadsheet calculator EXCEL
A database management tool ACCESS
Where Access and Excel help you gathering, storing and organizing data,
Minitab will help you to interpret the data.

Getting started

Introduction to MINITAB

Minitab files have the extension .MPJ

A Minitab file is called a PROJECT

A project contains one or several WORKSHEETS
Worksheets contain data organized in columns
Columns are used to perform calculations or produce graphs / charts
Every action is reported and stored in the SESSION window

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Introduction to MINITAB

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Worksheet data

Entering data

Worksheets contain data in columns

You can have as many worksheets as you want in your project
There are more columns and lines than youll ever need
You can rename the worksheets as you want
You can type or paste your data in the worksheet (it can also be linked
to an .xls or .mdb file)
The columns of a worksheet have a title (header) and a reference (C1,
C2)
Columns have one of the following formats:
o D DATE
o T TEXT
o <blank> - NUMERIC
1 cell of data in a column represents a line
lines are numbered

When entering data in Minitab, there are some important pitfalls to avoid:
0 is a value, <blank> is not!
Dont use the delete key: this will shift your data upwards and
potentially mix your data. Use backspace instead
Use your computers appropriate decimal properties: . or ,
Data format: setting a column to text format if the content is numeric
will disable many calculation functions on the column
All inputs with %, , separator, will result in an automatic text format
Tip: To avoid format problems, put the entire sheet in format general
when pasting data from excel.
Column reference
and format

Column header

data

Line number

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Introduction to MINITAB

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Menus

Like in most applications, youll see a range of pull down menus:

Project name

Worksheet name

Menus

In the File, Edit, Windows and Help menus, youll find all the traditional
functions of window viewing, file management, help features,
The menus that contain the actual statistical and technical features of
Minitab are the Stat and Graph menus. You will also find some feature
and data organization function in the Data and Calc menus.
Shortcuts

Different shortcuts can be used to speed up common actions, incl:

Shortcut
CTRL-C / CTRL-V
CTRL-E
Alt Tab

Introduction to MINITAB

Description
Copies data / Pastes data
Pulls up previous menu
Moves you from one Windows application to another