2008
Stat Winter, 321 - Computer Instructions
The Stat 321 Email Discussion List Cal Poly has already signed up your email address to the class alias. If you want your mail forwarded to a different account, update the E-mail Delivery Address setting under Personal Information at http://my.calpoly.edu. If you add the course late, you should automatically begin receiving messages soon. To post a message: Send email to [e-mail] To reply to a message: Please make sure you use the reply to all option. If you dont receive an email the first week or want your name removed, please see me. Course Webpages Blackboard (more information below) Alternative course webpage: http://statweb.calpoly.edu/bchance/stat321W08/ On the course webpages you will see basic information, but also can access the daily schedule, frequent announcements, typos, homework assignments and solutions, course handouts (as they become available), data files, and other resources for the course. In Blackboard you can also check your current grade and access the discussion board and chatroom. Using Blackboard for the first time Note: The Blackboard web program works best with Internet Explorer (version 5.0 and higher), Netscape (version 7.1), Mozilla Firefox (1.0). Javascript, cookies, and pop-up windows must all be enabled. In your browser, go to http://my.calpoly.edu Log in using the same username and password that you use to check email (if unknown, try https://myportal.calpoly.edu/GuestPasswordManagerServlet) The Stat-321-01-2082 course link should appear in the Courses In Which You Are Participating. If not (and its been 3 days after an ePermit add), call the HelpDesk. Completing the Initial Course Survey in Blackboard From the Blackboard course page, under the Assignments tab, select the Stat 321 Questionnaire link and then click OK to begin. If you need to leave your computer but dont yet want to submit your answers, press the Save button instead. In fact, you may want to press this button with some regularity if you think you may lose your internet connection. If a problem develops and you are no longer able to access the questions, email me and I can reset the assessment. Earlier work will not be saved. Note: When taking an assessment using Netscape, do not resize the browser window or click on other links to avoid submitting a blank assessment. Submitting Other Assignments Electronically Email: You can email me Word files as attachments (without viruses) but include your name inside the file and in the file name. Do not use the drop box in Blackboard.
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Winter, 2008 Downloading Minitab To download Minitab 15 to your own computer, go to my.calpoly.edu and click the Technology tab. In the Windows folder, you should see Minitab 15.1. Click on Download! After accepting the licensing agreement, in the File Download window, click to Run the .exe file. See online handout for more details. Starting Minitab To start Minitab, double click on the Minitab 15 icon on the desktop, or Click on Start, then All Programs, then Minitab Solutions then Minitab 15. You can also double click on a Minitab file and this will also launch Minitab.
Make sure you see the MTB> prompt in the session window. If you do not, you will need to click in the Session Window, and then choose Editor Enable Commands. This is something you will probably have to do each time you use Minitab. (To set this permanently, choose Tools > Options > Session Window > Submitting Commands and select Enable.)
Creating a Minitab file You can type data directly into the Minitab columns. Generally, each column represents a variable and each row a different observational unit. Minitab file types - .mtw worksheet files store the Minitab worksheet - .mpj project files store the worksheet, the session window, and any graph windows you have created These files can only be read by Minitab, so you need to have Minitab installed on the machine before you will be able to open these files. Opening an existing Minitab file From the course webpages (under the Web Sites link in Blackboard or http://statweb.calpoly.edu/bchance/stat321W08/data/) Clicking on the file link should launch Minitab and display the data in the Data window. (You may need to configure your browser to recognize the .mtw extension.) You can also right click on the file and choose Save (Link) Target As to save to your own computer or, if in the Studio, then click on the My Computer icon and select the appropriate CD or flash drive. From within Minitab: Choose File Open Worksheet (6th option down) or Open File Project. In the next window, either double click on the Desktop icon on the left or click on the
down arrow at the top, to the right of the Data folder icon and then click on Desktop in the list. Then locate the folder containing the data file. In the Studio, double click on the Studio_Folder folder and follow the path given above. Note: You can have multiple worksheets open. Choose Window in the Minitab menu bar. You can select different Minitab worksheets at the bottom of this menu.
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Winter, 2008 Saving a Minitab file 1. Choose File Save Project or File Save Current Worksheet (8th option down). Enter a name into the File name box and click the Save button. 2. In the labs, you can only save files onto the Desktop (temporarily) or onto your own drive: To save to your own drive, next click My Computer icon on the left or use the pull-down menu by clicking on the down arrow at the top to the right of the Data folder:
This opens a menu. Click on My Computer in that menu. OR
To save to the Desktop, next click the Desktop icon on the left or use the pulldown menu to select Desktop. If you save a file to the Desktop, you should then be able to attach this file in an email message to send it to yourself. This file will not be on the Desktop the next time you use this machine.
You can also choose File Save Session Window As to save the output in the (activated) Session window into a text file which can be opened in Word. Copying Minitab Graphs into a Word file Copy and Paste: Make sure the graph is highlighted and then use ctrl-C to copy (or Edit Copy Graph). Then in Word, use ctrl-V to paste (or Edit Paste). If you have problems (e.g., the picture floating around in ways you dont want it to), use the picture toolbar (right click, select Show Picture Toolbar) to make sure the Text Wrapping style is In Line With Text. OR Save the graph onto your disk: Make sure the graph is highlighted, then select File Save Graph As. Use the menu to change the file type to JPEG (.jpg). In Word, choose Insert Picture From File. Formatting Minitab Graphs in Word: If you click once on the graph, you can resize the image by placing the mouse over one of the edge squares and dragging the mouse. You should also trim excess white space by selecting the Crop tool (from the Picture Toolbar, see step 1), then moving the mouse to an edge of the graph image and dragging inward. If you double click on the image twice, you can also do additional edits (e.g., fixing up axis labels) and formatting (e.g., change fill color to white). Using Minitab outside of class Minitab is available for free on all IT run computer labs, e.g. the Library Learning Commons (http://learningcommons.lib.calpoly.edu/labs/217c.html) and the Business Com...