Is there a freeware version of Minitab (or other statistical program)?

R is completely free, open source and of very high quality (widely used among academic statisticians). It's been in development for many years, and is very mature.

http://cran.r-project.org/ (CRAN is short for 'Comprehensive R Archive Network')

It's even possible to put it on a USB stick (you just install it on a machine and then copy the installed version) and run it from that (so you always have it with you).

It runs on Windows, Mac, Linux.

However, it does require some effort to learn - quite a bit more than Minitab; on the other hand, it's a good deal more comprehensive and powerful. Some of the packages you can download for it have very high quality graphics.

There are thousands of add-on packages available at the main site, all with documentation, at http://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/

There's lots of online pdfs that are helpful for a beginner, but it's easier if you can afford to buy a book or two. After working through a beginner's book or pdf, you should work through the introductory manual that comes with R. That's enough to do most stuff you're likely to need.

I'd recommend getting RStudio to go with it. That's also free, and will also run off a USB stick. It makes it a bit easier. http://rstudio.org/

There are many dozens of helpful websites and videos on the internet. The R-bloggers network is very handy and has a few beginners blogs in it. http://www.r-bloggers.com/

The R-help mailing list is invaluable, if you read the manuals first, and follow the posting guidelines.

There are many more resources available to help you than I have mentioned.

If you don't need something as powerful as Minitab, there are a few choices.

It would depend on the person your talking to. To a Muslim, Christian or Jew, this life would be a "trial-version"; what we have on this planet is only a test - the real thing comes in the next world, which is Heaven. Full-version may go to atheists. Because Atheists do not believe in a superior, they try to make the most of what they've got now because they know that once they are dead, then they are dead. Freeware/Shareware would go to those who love to give. They believe that the purpose of life is to help others beneath you. A good example of this would be Mother Teresa. Although she was religious she followed this rule of helping others. Christians may also follow this because Jesus stated that if you help someone your actually helping Himself. To sum it up, there are different versions for different people. As you grow older, life changes; to a 6 year old, 40 years old might seem like being old. Being a 40 years old will make a 100 year old seem old. As you see, life changes; our perception changes and I have to say that we should make the most of now, because there could be no tomorrow. I hope that answered your question.

> However, it does require some effort to learn

Hoo boy...I'll say. On startup, it said to type demo for a demonstration. This is what I got...

function (topic, package = NULL, lib.loc = NULL, character.only = FALSE,

verbose = getOption("verbose"), echo = TRUE, ask = getOption("demo.ask"),

encoding = getOption("encoding"))

{

paths <- find.package(package, lib.loc, verbose = verbose)

paths <- paths[file_test("-d", file.path(paths, "demo"))]

if (missing(topic)) {

db <- matrix(character(), nrow = 0L, ncol = 4L)

for (path in paths) {

entries <- NULL

if (file_test("-f", INDEX <- file.path(path, "Meta",

"demo.rds"))) {

entries <- readRDS(INDEX)

}

if (NROW(entries)) {

db <- rbind(db, cbind(basename(path), dirname(path),

entries))

}

}

colnames(db) <- c("Package", "LibPath", "Item", "Title")

footer <- if (missing(package))

paste0("Use ", sQuote(paste("demo(package =", ".packages(all.available = TRUE))")),

"\n", "to list the demos in all *available* packages.")

else NULL

y <- list(title = "Demos", header = NULL, results = db,

footer = footer)

class(y) <- "packageIQR"

return(y)

}

if (!character.only) {

topic <- substitute(topic)

if (is.call(topic) && (topic[[1L]] == "::" || topic[[1L]] ==

":::")) {

package <- as.character(topic[[2L]])

topic <- as.character(topic[[3L]])

}

else topic <- as.character(topic)

}

available <- character()

paths <- file.path(paths, "demo")

for (p in paths) {

files <- basename(tools::list_files_with_type(p, "demo"))

files <- files[topic == tools::file_path_sans_ext(files)]

if (length(files))

available <- c(available, file.path(p, files))

}

if (length(available) == 0L)

stop(gettextf("No demo found for topic %s", sQuote(topic)),

domain = NA)

if (length(available) > 1L) {

available <- available[1L]

warning(gettextf("Demo for topic %s' found more than once,\nusing the one found in %s",

sQuote(topic), sQuote(dirname(available[1L]))), domain = NA)

}

pkgpath <- dirname(dirname(available))

if (file.exists(file <- file.path(pkgpath, "Meta", "package.rds"))) {

desc <- readRDS(file)$DESCRIPTION

if (length(desc) == 1L) {

enc <- as.list(desc)[["Encoding"]]

!if (!is.null(enc))

encoding <- enc

}

}

if (ask == "default")

ask <- echo && grDevices::dev.interactive(orNone = TRUE)

if (.Device != "null device") {

oldask <- grDevices::devAskNewPage(ask = ask)

on.exit(grDevices::devAskNewPage(oldask), add = TRUE)

}

op <- options(device.ask.default = ask)

on.exit(options(op), add = TRUE)

if (echo) {

cat("\n\n", "\tdemo(", topic, ")\n", "\t---- ", rep.int("~",

nchar(topic, type = "w")), "\n", sep = "")

if (ask && interactive())

readline("\nType <Return>\t to start : ")

}

source(available, echo = echo, max.deparse.length = Inf,

keep.source = TRUE, encoding = encoding)

}

<bytecode: 0x0000000014dcdf08>

<environment: namespace:utils>

>