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altug_bayram
Level IV

Random subset selection for a given distribution

Hello ... 

 

I am trying to randomly select from a column of data for a given normal distribution . The given distribution is different than that of the data. 

Is there an easy way of accomplishing this with Table Subset's current options ? I could not see anything that could help me. 

 

I also tried a formula, basically NormalDensity (X, mu, sigma) to plot the densities of the "data" against the given distribution. 

But I still don't know how to say uniformly & randomly select from this formula so my outcome is as close as possible to the given distribution. 

Thx. Appreciate the support.

22 REPLIES 22

Re: Random subset selection for a given distribution

I know that, but a search for what I was looking for took me to this answer.  I'm trying to determine if switching to JMP for a statistics course makes sense.  It is becoming clear that JMP is unintuitive and difficult for simple things.  Even the answer you gave to a simple sample is not simple or intuitive. 

 

My take on JMP so far is that the learning curve is high, but probably worth it if you are doing more complex statistical modeling or experiment design.  However, I'm not sure whether there are advantages to JMP over other products such as R or SPSS. JMP is like a lot of products these days, designed by experts or computer programmers to be used by experts or computer programmers while remaining relatively inaccessible to those not in those fields. Very few products do a decent job of considering and catering to a broad user base.

 

Maybe my opinion will change, as I haven't given up on JMP yet, but so far it is making me appreciate Minitab's simple interface.

Re: Random subset selection for a given distribution

I recommend that you spend time on the JMP Web site. There is a menu item at the top of the home page, Learn JMP, through which you can access any one of many resources that we made to help you learn to use JMP. Another area for learning is the Discovery Summit site in the Events menu. For example, the keynote presentation by John Sall during the past few years will give you some insights.

 

Are you teaching a statistics course? There are several sections that are devoted to instructors. Some of the material could be off-loaded as assignments for your students.

 

I agree with you that, at version 15, JMP is complex and sophisticated. Some of its best features are not obvious. A lot of learning and adopting a new tool is your mindset. For example, I teach JMP and lot of new users see a JMP data table and think, "It's just another spreadsheet." That starting point is where the frustration begins. (I am not saying that was your initial impression, but it is common. BI think that you appreciate the difference between statistical analysis and spreadsheet analysis because you use MINITAB.) The resources that I mentioned above are intended to reveal the JMP mindset so that it makes sense and you can quickly anticipate how JMP will help you solve a new problem.

Re: Random subset selection for a given distribution

I would also recommend the free course Statistical Thinking for Industrial Problem Solving (https://www.jmp.com/en_us/online-statistics-course.html ). Although you may not need to learn the statistics, the demonstrations show how to perform common analyses in JMP. I think those demonstrations can show you how well JMP can do in a statistics course as well as showing some basic data manipulation and graphing techniques.

Dan Obermiller