Statistical packages, numeric data

Numeric data. Spreadsheets are the most common programs for numeric data but these types of data are also used by the specialised statistical packages. 

Programs for numeric dafa are similar to databases in that they are split into general programs, i.e. spreadsheets, and programs which are designed to do specific things with numeric data, i.e. statistical packages. 

Some tedious arithmetic by hand, or by use of nearly any commercially available statistical package that includes an ANOVA program, shows that for the copper content data of Table 4.6 the numerical version of (4-11) is approximately... 

Before complicated statistical models are constructed and run—increasingly easy with more and more powerful statistical computing packages—it is absolutely necessary to describe the basic characteristics of each variable—number of observations, mean, standard deviation, minimum, and maximum. That will reveal which data are below the limits of detection, are missing, are miscoded, and are outliers. If the study involves three or four key variables, associations among the variables should also be examined. Histograms and scatterplots will reveal data structures unanticipated from the numerical summaries. 

This book will acquaint the reader with some of the important tools and strategies now available for investigating chemical processes and systems on personal computers. We present some useful mathematical models, numerical methods for solving them, and statistical methods for testing and discriminating candidate models with experimental data. The software package Athena Visual Studio, obtained from www.AthenaVisual.com, will enable you to do these computations and view the results on your personal computer screen, print them and transmit them. Familiarity with Microsoft Windows (1998 or later) is required, but little knowledge of Fortran, since Athena converts equation statements directly into Fortran code as described in the Athena tutorial on your computer s desktop. 

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