[Blindmath] Question about Minitab

[Jonathan Godfrey]

Hi Michael,

R can do anything. Did you expect me to say anything different?

The add on package known as qcc will do all that is required in most
introductory courses.

You could see how this is done by going to the series of web pages I wrote
this semester for our third year course which includes four weeks of  SPC.
It will go further than your course will but don't let that scare you!

Go to:
http://r-resources.massey.ac.nz/161325examples/front.html

You probably want to look at sections 3.4 3.7, and 3.8.

Please note that these are examples that supplement course material so the
detail may be patchy.

Jonathan



 

-----Original Message-----
From: blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Michael Whapples
Sent: Tuesday, 25 October 2011 10:18 a.m.
To: Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics
Subject: Re: [Blindmath] Question about Minitab

Hello,
Could you tell me whether R is any good for SPC? This is the only bit where
excel will not be enough for my course and I have been advised to avoid it
if possible and for the little bit of SPC I may not be able to avoid then
may be just get sighted assistance for using minitab. In some ways if R will
be suitable then R might be better as then I can do the work when I want and
I need not avoid SPC unless I feel I want to.

Michael whapples
On 24 Oct 2011, at 22:02, Jonathan Godfrey wrote:

> Hello,
> 
> Michael is correct in that the current version of Minitab is not as 
> friendly as previous versions.
> 
> I have used Minitab from version 8 (under DOS) to 16 and over that 
> time (17
> years) things have got worse.
> 
> The dialogue boxes and menus are an absolute nightmare for the new 
> user. I can get by because I remember the menus from previous 
> versions. Having said that, I do not choose to use Minitab for 
> anything except talking my students through things so I'm not actually
touching it, they are.
> 
> The command language of Minitab is usable with jaws or nvda. The 
> language is far from natural and the resources for such commands are 
> mostly old (dating back to the DOS version where we all typed commands 
> out). Most staff working with Minitab do not know the syntax even 
> though it is automatically generated as the dialogue boxes are used.
> 
> 
> The number of outputs that have been altered from text to graphic in 
> Minitab is on the rise too. There were ways of generating ASCII 
> graphics for most things in the past, but this art has been lost in more
recent versions.
> 
> Should you want an alternative that is superior to EXCEL, I could 
> recommend R. See http://r-resources.massey.ac.nz to see what sort of 
> support I offer blind R users.
> 
> I'll put some Excel comments in the reply to Michael.
> 
> Jonathan
> 
> 
> 
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