PRENTICE HALL STAT ADD-IN



PHStat Version 1.1 readme file overview.

This document discusses how to install and use PHStat, the Prentice Hall statistical add-in system for Microsoft Excel. Issues concerning the setup and use of Microsoft Excel that are relevant to using PHStat or the Excel-related instructions in your text are also discussed.

First time users of PHStat or Microsoft Excel should read each section of this document, verifying and installing the software components as discussed. Previous users of PHStat and Microsoft Excel can go to the sections of interest using the table of contents below.

Table of Contents

1. Verifying your version of Microsoft Excel.

2. Verifying the installation of the Analysis ToolPak add-ins.

3. Activating the Analysis ToolPak add-ins.

4. Verifying the technical requirements for the Prentice Hall PHStat add-in system.

5. Installing the Prentice Hall PHStat add-in system.

6. Starting PHStat with Microsoft Excel.

7. Troubleshooting tips for using PHStat.

8. Known issues using PHStat.

9. PHStat enhancements and problem fixes through version 1.1

1. Verifying your version of Microsoft Excel.

Microsoft Excel 95 (also known as version 7) and Microsoft Excel 97 (also known as version 8) as originally distributed by Microsoft contain bugs that affect certain results obtained in Excel and prevent PHStat from functioning properly inside Excel. To avoid the errors and problems that these bugs create, you should check the Microsoft website for available updates, called service releases by Microsoft. Note that you must update your copy of Microsoft Excel to the latest service release if you intend on using the PHStat add-on.

If you are using Microsoft Excel 97, you can easily verify the status of your version by doing the following:

1. Run Microsoft Excel.

2. Select Help | About Microsoft Excel.

3. In the About Microsoft Excel dialog box, note the first line of text and then click the OK button to close the dialog box

As of April 1999, that first line should read “Microsoft Excel 97 SR-2” or “Microsoft Excel 97 SR-2 (f).” If you see something else, for example, either the phrase “Microsoft Excel 97” or “Microsoft Excel 97 SR-1,” you should apply the latest service release to your copy of Microsoft Excel.

2. Verifying the installation of the Analysis ToolPak add-ins.

Selected textbook and PHStat procedures require that the Microsoft Excel Analysis ToolPak and Analysis ToolPak–VBA add-ins that are supplied with Microsoft Excel be installed. If you originally setup Microsoft Excel/Office using the “typical” setup option, these add-ins may not have been installed. To verify their installation, do the following:

1. Run Microsoft Excel.

2. Select Tools | Add-Ins.

3. In the Add-Ins dialog box, verify that the Analysis ToolPak and Analysis ToolPak–VBA check boxes appear in the Add-Ins available: list box. Click the OK button to close the dialog box.

If Analysis ToolPak and Analysis ToolPak-VBA do not appear as choices in the Add-Ins available: list box, they were not installed when Microsoft Excel was first setup. Rerun the Microsoft Excel/Office setup program to reinstall Microsoft Excel/Office and choose the Custom setup choice. Select these two add-ins (and other components you need) and complete the setup process. Then repeat the instructions above to verify the installation of the Analysis ToolPak add-ins.

3. Activating the Analysis ToolPak add-ins.

Once installed, the Microsoft Excel Analysis ToolPak and Analysis ToolPak–VBA need to be activated, made ready for use by Excel. To activate these add-ins, do the following

1. Run Microsoft Excel.

2. Select Tools | Add-Ins.

3. In the Add-Ins dialog box:

Select the Analysis ToolPak and Analysis ToolPak–VBA check boxes in the Add-Ins available: list box.

Select any other checkboxes in the Add-Ins available: list box as desired.

Click the OK Button.

4. Verifying the technical requirements for the Prentice Hall PHStat add-in system.

The Prentice Hall PHStat Microsoft Excel add-in system enhances Microsoft Excel to better support the statistical analyses taught in an introductory statistics course. Using PHStat lessens the technical training needed to use Microsoft Excel to perform analysis and allows you to generate results that would otherwise be very tedious or impossible to produce from worksheets built from scratch. To use PHStat requires the following:

-Any Windows 95 or Windows 98 system.

-Microsoft Excel 95 (also known as version 7) or Microsoft Excel 97 (also known as version 8) with all service packs updates applied. (See section 1 above for further information.)

-Sufficient main memory. Memory requirements vary based on system configuration, although 32MB is the suggested minimum. Note that running sampling distribution simulation procedures and data-intensive regression analyses with very large data sets may cause Microsoft Excel and PHStat to fail (see note below).

-Approximately 5MB hard disk free space during setup process and 3 MB hard disk space after installation.

-Display settings set to 800 by 600 pixels with Small Fonts. PHStat will run with any other display settings, but the Large Fonts settings may cause certain dialog box captions to be truncated. (Use the Settings tab of the Display applet of the Control Panel to change settings.).

Note: Microsoft Excel with PHStat is best used as a tool for learning statistics and not as an all-purpose substitute for using a standard statistical package in all situations. Very large data sets or data sets with unusual statistical properties can cause Excel with PHStat to produce invalid results.

5. Installing the Prentice Hall PHStat add-in system.

To use the Prentice Hall PHStat Microsoft Excel add-in, you first need to run the setup program (Setup.exe) that is located in the PHStat directory on the disk containing this file. This setup program will install the Microsoft Excel .XLA files and the Windows ActiveX DLL file that comprise PHStat, add entries in your Windows Registry files, and add icons on your Desktop and Start Menu for PHStat. Depending on the age of your Windows system files, some Windows system files may be updated during the setup process as well. For the setup program to work properly, you must have write access to the Windows registry files on your system. (If you are using a networked computer system, verify with your network administrator that you have this right.)

During the Setup program you will have the opportunity to specify:

-The directory into which to copy the PHStat files. (The default location is \Program Files\Prentice Hall\PHStat).

-The name of the Start Programs folder to contain the PHStat icons.

Setup also adds an entry to the Install/Uninstall list of the Control Panel Add/Remove Programs applet. You should use this entry to uninstall PHStat if you later need to remove this version of PHStat. Note: If you previously installed an earlier version of PHStat, you should uninstall it using the Add/Remove Programs applet before installing this version.

Note to network users.

PHStat should be installed to individual computer systems. It is not designed to run as a single shared copy from a network file server. Network administrators at institutions at which the accompanying text has been adopted can facilitate the distribution of PHStat on their networks by first installing PHStat to a single computer system and then copying the PHStat files directory and altered Windows Registry to the other computers on the network.

6. Starting PHStat with Microsoft Excel.

To begin using the Prentice Hall PHStat Microsoft Excel add-in, click the appropriate Start Menu or Desktop icon for PHStat that was added to your system during the setup process. Select the PHStat for Excel 95, if your system has Excel 95 installed, or select PHStat for Excel 97, if your system has Excel 97 installed. In either case, Microsoft Excel—if it is available on your system—automatically loads.

Once PHStat is successfully installed, you can set up Microsoft Excel to automatically load PHStat every time Excel is run, bypassing the need to click on PHStat icon. To configure Microsoft Excel in this manner, do the following:

1. Run Microsoft Excel.

2. Select Tools | Add-Ins.

3. In the Add-Ins dialog box:

Click the Browse button and locate and open the PHStat add-in file PHStat.xla (PHStat for Excel 95.xla if using Microsoft Excel 95). (The file will be in the directory specified during the PHStat setup procedure.)

Click the OK Button.

Until this procedure is reversed, Microsoft Excel will automatically load PHStat every time it, Microsoft Excel, opens.

Macro virus warning dialog box.

Depending on your system configuration and method for using PHStat, starting PHStat may trigger the Microsoft macro virus dialog box that contains a warning about the possibility of viruses. Should this dialog box appear, click the Enable Macros button to allow this add-in (virus-free, as shipped) to be loaded.

7. Troubleshooting tips for PHStat.

If you encounter a “Compile error in hidden module” dialog box message, your version of Microsoft Excel has not been properly updated. Uninstall PHStat and follow the instructions for updating your copy of Excel that are given in section 1 of this document.

IF you encounter other problems when first attempting to use PHStat, make sure the Analysis ToolPak and Analysis ToolPak-VBA add-ins are installed and activated as discussed in sections 2 and 3 above.

Generally, PHStat expects values for a variable to be placed in a single column, although it is capable of processing row-wise values as well. If you get unexpected results with your row-wise data, rearrange your data into columns.

Regularly check the Prentice Hall web site (berenson) for the latest information about and updates to the Prentice Hall PHStat add-in system.

8. Known issues when using PHStat.

PHStat will not run properly on a system in which two versions of Microsoft Excel have been installed, such as Excel 95 and Excel 97. To use PHStat on such systems, first remove one of the Excel versions and then reinstall the other (very important).

For some procedures that require sorted data, PHStat in certain cases sorts the input data in place without regard to other data on the same worksheet. If you would like to preserve the order and arrangement of your data, copy the data to a new worksheet before selecting the PHStat procedure.

Depending on the values supplied to the procedure and the Microsoft Excel version being used, the Probability Distributions | Sampling Distributions Simulation choice of PHStat may require significantly more main memory to complete. Attempting to use this function with smaller memory sizes may cause Microsoft Excel to end with a fatal error.

Using any of the Regression choices with very large data sets is not recommended and may lead to a fatal error, especially on systems with insufficient main memory.

Using any of the Regression choices with invalid data sets will trigger a Data Analysis dialog box mentioning the LINEST() function. When this dialog box occurs, the results produced by PHStat are unpredictable.

Depending on the configuration of your machine, you may have to restart Windows in cases of unexpected run-time errors.

9. Enhancements and problem fixes through version 1.1.

New to version 1.1:

The Input Options edit boxes of the Normal Probability Distribution dialog box accept decimal as well as integer values.

Problems fixed in version 1.1:

In control charts produced by Control Charts | p Chart and Control Charts | R & XBar Charts procedures, no LCL line appears if the LCL value is less than zero.

Summary Statistics option of Box-and-Whisker Plot produces correct values for the first and third quartiles in all cases.

Problems fixed in version 1.0b:

Decision-Making | Opportunity Loss Table procedure generates correct results when events > 2.

Data Preparation | Random Number Generator procedure works with all versions of Microsoft Excel.

Probability Distributions | Normal Probability Plot procedure produces proper results when using an unsorted variable cell range that does not contain a label in the first cell of the range.

Probability Distribution | Covariance and Portfolio Analysis procedure produces proper formulas for the variance and covariance formulas when the number of outcomes equals 2.

Confidence Intervals | Estimate for the Population Total and Estimate for the Total Difference procedures produce worksheets in which the standard error of the total/total difference is properly labeled.

c-Sample Tests | Chi Square Test procedure produces an appropriate warning message in column A under the Expected Frequencies tables when number of rows 2.

Label for confidence level for regression coefficients in Regression | Best Subsets dialog box displays properly under recommended display settings.

New to version 1.0a:

Regression | Best Subsets procedure activated.

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Check the Prentice Hall web site for the latest updates and enhancements to PHStat.

Note: Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of the Microsoft Corporation.

This document is current as of April 1999.

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