Minitab Instructions for Chapter 4 Technology Exercise

Probability Distributions (Question 1)

Minitab is not needed until part c.

  1. Label the first column as x, the second column as p, and the third column as sample
  2. Enter the values -10, 1, 5, and 20 into the x column
  3. Enter the probabilities (you need to find them in part a) into the p column. When you enter them, be sure to include lots of decimal places. Remember that your probabilities should add up to be 1, but they may be slightly off because of rounding.
  4. Choose Calc / Random Data / Discrete
    1. Generate 10000 rows of data
    2. Store the results in the sample column
    3. The values are in x
    4. The probabilities are in p.
    5. Click OK
  5. Choose Stat / Basic Statistics / Display Descriptive Statistics
    1. The variable is sample
    2. Click Statistics and turn on Variance
    3. Click OK

Nielsen Ratings (Question 2)

Start a new worksheet (File / New / Worksheet) before beginning this problem.

  1. Label the first column as x and the second column as p
  2. Enter the values 0, 1, 2, 3, ..., 10 in the x column.
  3. Choose Calc / Probability Distributions / Binomial
    1. You want the probability
    2. The number of trials is 10
    3. The probability of success is 0.16
    4. The input column is x
    5. The optional storage is p
    6. Click OK
  4. Highlight the cells with the data (both x and p) in it, copy the data, switch to Word, and paste it.

For parts b - d, take and add or subtract individual probabilities as needed to find the answers.

An appropriate graph here is formed by making a scatterplot.

  1. Choose Graph / Scatterplot / Simple
    1. The y variable is p, the x variable is x
    2. Go into Labels and create a title like "Nielsen Ratings"
    3. Click OK
  2. Double click on the X axis
    1. Change the number of ticks to 11 so that each value has a number under it
    2. Increase the font size (check the box that says apply font to all labels to fix the y axis while you're at it).
  3. Double click on the dots and make them larger (size 2)
  4. Delete the x and p from the labels at the bottom and left sides
  5. Right click the mouse, choose copy graph, switch to Word, and paste it into the document.

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Last updated September 29, 2005 8:45 PM