Statistics Toolbox

How to Use This Guide

If you are a new user begin with Chapter 1, Using the Statistics Toolbox. This chapter introduces the MATLAB statistics environment through the toolbox functions. It describes the functions with regard to particular areas of interest, such as probability distributions, linear and nonlinear models, principal components analysis, design of experiments, statistical process control, and descriptive statistics.

All toolbox users should use Chapter 2, Reference, for information about specific tools. For functions, reference descriptions include a synopsis of the function's syntax, as well as a complete explanation of options and operation. Many reference descriptions also include examples, a description of the function's algorithm, and references to additional reading material.

Use this guide in conjunction with the software to learn about the powerful features that MATLAB provides. Each chapter provides numerous examples that apply the toolbox to representative statistical tasks.

The random number generation functions for various probability distributions are based on all the primitive functions, randn and rand. There are many examples that start by generating data using random numbers. To duplicate the results in these examples, first execute the commands below.

seed = 931316785;
rand('seed',seed);
randn('seed',seed);

You might want to save these commands in an M-file script called init.m. Then, instead of three separate commands, you need only type init.

What Is the Statistics Toolbox?

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