1. Experiment #2 Resistor Statistics
The object of this experiment is to generate a histogram demonstrating how many resistors in a sample of the same nominal value meet specifications.
A histogram is a plot that shows how many of an item fall into specific “bins”.

2. Procedure
Each student will be given a sample of resistors having the same nominal value.
For each resistor:
Determine the nominal value from the color code.
Measure and record the resistance of each resistor in the sample.
Enter your data in an Excel table as shown on the next page.
Plot a histogram bar graph of the measured values and determine the mean and the standard deviation of the resistance values.

3. Example Histogram Raw Data Table Generated by Excel
Value 1
1000 2
1050 3
990 4
1075 5
950 6
899 7
1102 8
1080 9
1005 10
1020
Number of resistors with values < or = to 900
Bin
Frequency
900 1
950
1000 2
1050 3
1100
More
Number of resistors with values from 1051 through 1100
Plot of Excel Table Data

4. Data for Experiment #2 =
Explain Allowable range, mean and standard deviation

5. Preparing to Plot a Histogram
Before you start to generate a plot, create a sequence of 5 numbers in your Excel sheet, equally spaced, from the minimum of your allowable range to the maximum of your allowable range.
For example, if the range was , I would generate the following sequence:
400
500
600
700
800

6. Generating a Histogram Table
Click on the “Data” pull-down menu
Select “Data Analysis”
Select “Histogram”
For Input Range
Enter the cell range with your resistance measurements (e.g. a4:a20)
For Bin Range
Enter the cell range of your 5 values
For Output Range
Enter the cell that you want to be the upper left corner of your histogram table

7. Generating a Histogram Plot
Select (click and drag the cursor over) the table that was created using the histogram command
Click on the “Insert” pull down menu
Select “Column”
Select chart type
You’ll see a preview of your plot, click “next”
Enter a label for the x axis and change the plot title from “frequency” to something with your nominal resistor value in it, click “next”
Select “as object in sheet 2” in last step then click “finish”

8. What needs to be turned in
A printout of the data table including:
The original data
The histogram table
The histogram plot