Minitab Quick Start Guide

Starting Minitab

To start an interactive Minitab session, log into your account and type minitab at the default system prompt. You will see the following header: 

 
 MINITAB Statistical Software, Enhanced Version
 Release 9.1 for SUN
 (C) Copyright 1992 Minitab Inc. - All Rights Reserved
 
 DEC. 14, 2001 - UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
 
 Worksheet size: 100000 cells
   
   For information on:            Type:
   --------------------------     ---------------
   How to use Minitab             HELP
   Customer service               HELP OVERVIEW 14
   Documentation                  HELP OVERVIEW 15
   What's new in this release     NEWS

   MTB>
Enter commands on the line which starts with MTB>.
Getting Help in Minitab

To obtain an overview of how Minitab works, type HELP OVERVIEW at the MTB> prompt. This will give a general introduction to Minitab and present information on command syntax.

To obtain a list of topics on which help is available in Minitab, type HELP COMMANDS at the MTB> prompt.

To obtain help on a specific topic in Minitab, type HELP followed by the name of the topic, e.g., HELP REGRESSION.

The letter C refers to a column of data and the letter K refers to a number(see Command Syntax below).

To obtain more information on HELP explanations, type HELP COMMANDS 20.
Exiting Minitab

To exit a Minitab session, type STOP.
Command Syntax

A Minitab command must start with a command word, e.g., SET, REGRESS, DESCRIBE. You may enter extra words into a command, but you must enter keywords in the appropriate order. For example, SET C1 and SET THESE VALUES INTO C1 will both work correctly. You must be sure that the word SET precedes the name of the variable.

Each command must start on a new line.

You may continue a command on another line by typing & at the end of the first line.

Commands may be typed in upper or lower case.

No punctuation is necessary at the end of a command.

Commands are separated from subcommands with a semicolon (;).

The last subcommand is terminated with a period.

Variable names begin with the letter C (short for column) followed by a number. C1 refers to the data in column 1.

For more information on Command syntax, type HELP OVERVIEW.
Entering Data into Columns

The SET command may be used to enter all the data for a single variable: 
   MTB > set c1
   DATA> 2.5 3.6 7.1 4.8
   DATA> end

C1 now contains the values 2.5, 3.6, 7.1, and 4.8.

The READ command is used to enter data for multiple variables one line at a time: 
   MTB > read c2-c3
   DATA> 2.4 3.6
   DATA> 1.7 2.9
   DATA> 1.8 4.0
   DATA> 3.0 2.6
   DATA> end

C2 now contains the values 2.4, 1.7, 1.8, and 3.0. C3 contains the values 3.6, 2.9, 4.0, and 2.6.

To signal the end of data entry when using the SET and READ commands, type END.
Creating a Listing File

To save your work session to an output file, type PAPER at the MTB> prompt at the beginning of your session. The commands you type and all responses by Minitab will be saved in a file called PRINTER.LIS (the file name will be in upper case). To print this file after you exit Minitab, type a2ps PRINTER.LIS at the system prompt. Note: any commands executed prior to the PAPER command will be lost in the saved information.

You may also save your session in a file whose name you specify by using the OUTFILE command (e.g., OUTFILE 'myfile.out'). Then type in your commands. To print this file after you exit Minitab, type a2ps myfile.out at the system prompt. Note: any commands executed prior to the OUTFILE command will be lost in the saved information.
Graphics Display

By default, Minitab assumes that your session operates on an Xterminal. To display a graph (e.g., a histogram) in text mode, create a file called startup.MTB in your home directory by typing the following commands: 
     cd
     echo GSTD > startup.MTB
Sample Minitab Session

This session reads data from a file called pulse.DAT in /usr/local/lib/minitab/handbook, calculates descriptive statistics for the variable C1 (pulse rate before running) for classes of activity level (C8), and calculates a oneway ANOVA. The results are saved to a listing file called pulse.out. 
 MTB > outfile 'pulse.out'
 MTB > read '/usr/local/lib/minitab/handbook/pulse.DAT' into c1-c8
 MTB > describe c1 ;
 SUBC> by c8.
 MTB > oneway c1 by c8
 MTB > nooutfile
 MTB > stop