These are Minitab commands typically used in constructing the balance simulation. For the simulation, we assumed that the measuring process had the same variance, whether a single weight was being measured on a plate, two weights were being measured on a plate, or two weights were being counterbalanced against each other. We assume that the large weight weighs 50 grams and the small weight weighs 40 grams.
I've presented the commands below that could be used to generate the data. To execute these commands, you would select Edit, then Command Line Editor; type the commands in the window and then select Submit Commands. You can also use the menu in the following way: Select Calc>Random Data>Normal. Select 500 rows of data to generate, enter C1 as the column in which to enter and change the mean from 0 to 50. The other columns of data can be generated in the same fashion.
# Generate 500 random observations of the large weight in the Command # Line Editor rand 500 c1; norm 50 1. rand 500 c4; norm 40 1. rand 500 c2; norm 10 1. rand 500 c3; norm 90 1. let c5=(c2+c3)/2
As an alternative to using the LET command in the Session window, (used here to estimate Weight 2) you can select Calc>Calculator, choose C5 as the column for storing your result and then enter (c2+c3)/2 in the calculator window.
At this point, we need to compare C1 and C5. Select Graph>Histogram and then select Simple Histogram and enter C1 and C5 as Graph variables. Under Multiple Variables, select In Separate Panels of the Same Graph, and under Same Scale for Graphs, select both Same Y, and Same X, Including Same Bins.
Additional comparisons could be made by creating additional columns using the calculator. As an example, the lighter weight could be estimated by selecting Calc>Calculator, choosing C6 as the column for storing your result and then entering (c3-c2)/2 in the calculator window. These results could be compared to the randomly generated values for the lighter weight generated in C4.