Making a Stem and Leaf Plot using Minitab

1) Start Minitab
2) Enter the data into the columns in Minitab. You can enter it manually or copy-and-paste it from an Excel file. Be sure
to include a header for the data in each column.

3) Select the column of data you want to make a plot of, then select Graph->Stem and Leaf.

4) Select (double-click) on the varaiable you want. For the Increment, this would be the power of 10 for the stem
position in the numbers. For this set of data, we want to split the stems and leaves between the 100s and 1000s place,
so we should use an increment of 1000. (Note: If the increment is too small, Minitab will produce a S&L graph that is
very long and will tell you your increment is too small.)

5) When you click OK the S&L will appear in the Session window. You can then copy & paste this S&L into any other
document if desired. (The different parts of the graph will be discussed at the end of these directions.)

6) If you want to split the stems to have more groups (Remember, you want about 5-12 (or 20 for large sets of data)
groups.) then cut the increment in half, fourths, or fifths. Below, we split the stems once by halving the increment to
500. Notice how the stem numbers are repeated twice in the S&L displayed.

7) The S&L of this data (w/o the split stems) is below. Notice the following:
-You are told the variable it displays you will want to make a better title
-You are given the sample size N (N = 51)
-Since the stem interval is 1000, the leaf unit is 100. Therefore the leaves represent the hundreds digit in the
data values
-There is no specific key given. You should provide one.
-Notice the counts on the left. If the median value for the sample is included in a row, the count for that row is
enclosed in parentheses. The values for rows above and below the median are cumulative. The count for
a row above the median represents the total count for that row and the rows above it. The value for a
row below the median represents the total count for that row and the rows below it. In the example,
the median for the sample is in red, so the count for the first row is enclosed in parentheses. The
count for the 4th row (the 4) represents the total number of observations in the last three rows.
-You will read about trimming outliers later. In this class, we will rarely, if ever, use that option.
-Notice the font used forces each number to take up the same amount of space so the graph is not distorted
Stem-and-Leaf Display: Number of People
Stem-and-leaf of Number
Leaf Unit = 100

(28)
23
9
4
3
1

0
1
2
3
4
5

of People

1111111222222333455666778999
00111122344467
03788
3
04
5

= 51

8) Unfortunately, Minitab does not make back-to-back S&L plots, so if you want one, youll have to make it by hand or in
Excel. If you use Minitab, the best you can get is a separate S&L for each variable. You can either type the data into
separate lists, or use a variable to distiguish the data. The data we are using for this example is the population for the
states in America. If we add a data column of 1s and 2s, with a 1 representing a state to the east of the Mississippi and a
2 representing a state to the west, then we can have Minitab make separate S&Ls by the Region variable:

Here are the resulting two S&L graphs for the two regions:
Stem-and-Leaf Display: Number of People
Stem-and-leaf of Number
Leaf Unit = 100

12
(9)
7
2
1

0
1
2
3
4

Region = 1

= 28

of People

Region = 2

= 23

111222466799
011234467
03788
3
0

Stem-and-leaf of Number
Leaf Unit = 100

(16)
7
2
2
2
1

of People

0
1
2
3
4
5

1111222333556789
01124

4
5