Simulta

Simulta

Chapter 3
Question 2
14.2.2013

How minitab generates random data?
(minitab statistical glossary: Base for random numbers)
Minitab has a long string of "random" numbers available. If Minitab always started at the same point, you would always get the same data. To avoid this, Minitab uses the time of day (in seconds or fractions of a second) to choose a "random" starting point in the string.
Note | If you use the same base on different versions of Minitab, you may not get the same random number sequence. |
ftp://210.101.70.2/Student/MTBWIN/MTBWIN/Electronic%20Doc/mcrandom.pdf
Or the user can enter the starting point. More You can use the session command BASE, documented in Session Command Help, to find
out the current base value. Simply type BASE on the command line (without arguments).
MINITAB will print the base value in the Session window.

What is a string (Wikipedia)
In computer programming, a string is traditionally a sequence of characters, either as a literal constant or as some kind of variable. The latter may allow its elements to be mutated and/or the length changed, or it may be fixed (after creation). A string is generally understood as a data type and is often implemented as an array of bytes (or words) that stores a sequence of elements, typically characters, using some character encoding. A string may also denote more general arrays or other sequence (or list) data types and structures.
Depending on programming language and precise data type used, a variable declared to be a string may either cause storage in memory to be statically allocated for a predetermined maximum length or employ dynamic allocation to allow it to hold variable number of elements.

Command language syntax
The structure of Minitab's programming language that you must follow when typing session commands in the Session window or Command Line Editor. While most users control Minitab using menu commands (clickable options in the user interface), some prefer to...