Who Takes This Course? Using Minitab to Make Basic Charts and Graphs

Work in groups of two or three. Be sure to print all graphs and turn them in with this activity. Person to whom graded activity will be returned: ____________________________ Other group members: __________________________, ___________________________ Open the dataset from the course webpage called “1530 STUDENT DATA FALL 2010.MTW”. Be sure to open it with the Minitab program. 1. Make a histogram of all the heights of the students in the class. Do this by clicking Graph- Histogram – Simple, and select “Height (in)” as the graph variable. Print this histogram. Does this histogram seem reasonable? Explain what could have caused the strange data values. ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________

2. Remove the strange data values, and make a new histogram of the heights. Make sure your new histogram seems realistic. If it does not, continue removing the “strange” values. Print your histogram and describe its shape. ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________

3. Make a dotplot for the numbers of siblings the females have, and a dotplot for the numbers of siblings the males have. Do this by clicking Graph – Dotplot – Multiple Y’s, Simple. Select “Siblings” as the graph variable, then click Multiple Graphs. In the “By variables with groups in separate panels” field put “Gender”. Click “OK” twice. Print this graph. According to your dotplots, what is the approximate ratio of women to men? ________ According to your dotplots, does a person’s sex seem to affect the number of brothers or sisters s/he has? Explain.

________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ 4. Make a pie chart of the gender variable, and print it. Do this by clicking Graph – Pie Chart and select “Gender” for the categorical variable. According to your pie chart, what is the approximate ratio of women to men? ________ 5. Make a bar chart of the housing status variable by gender. Do this by clicking Graph – Bar Chart – Cluster. Then click “Gender” and then “Comm/Dorm”, and OK. Be sure to print your graph. Do women seem more likely to live in the dorms than the men? Explain. ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________