Estimating missing standard deviations for Calculate Gap Pools

Six Sigma > Design for Manufacturability > Calculate Gap Pools

In This Topic

Enter expected ranges
Enter confidence limits
Enter known standard deviations

If the column you enter for Standard deviations contains missing values, then a message asks whether you want to estimate the standard deviations. If you click Yes, then Minitab opens the Standard Deviation Estimator dialog box.

Use one of the methods below to enter values for each missing standard deviation. After you use the Standard Deviation Estimator, Minitab replaces the missing values in the worksheet with the estimated standard deviations.

To re-estimate the standard deviations, replace the estimated values with missing value symbols (*), then calculate the gap pools again.

Enter expected ranges

From Method, select Range (value/6.0).
In Value, enter the expected range for the standard deviation of the element. Minitab assumes that the range is approximately equal to 6σ. Thus, dividing the range by 6 provides an estimate of σ.
Click OK.

Enter confidence limits

When you enter an upper confidence limit, the calculation is σ = (upper confidence limit – μ) / Zα.

When you enter a lower confidence limit, the calculation is σ = (μ – lower confidence limit) / Zα.

α-value	Zα equals
80	0.84162
90	1.28155
95	1.64485
99	2.32635

From Method, select one of the confidence limit options.
In Value, enter the confidence limit for the element.
Click OK.

Enter known standard deviations

Note

Although you can enter known standard deviations in the Standard Deviation Estimator, entering the values directly in the worksheet is easier.

From Method, select Use value.
In Value, enter the standard deviation for the element.
Click OK.