IET 421/621 (Spring 2016)

Homework 5
Total Points: 10
Due date: 03/29/2016, 10:00 PM EST
Shane Holbrook
1. (4 points) The ANOVA from a randomized complete block experiment output is shown below.
Source
Treatment
Block
Error
Total

DF
4
5
20
29

SS
1010.56
323.82
169.33
1503.71

MS
252.640
64.765
8.467

F
29.84

P
<0.00001

(a) Fill in the blanks. You may give bounds on the P-value.
(b) How many blocks were used in this experiment? 6 Blocks were used
(c) What conclusions can you draw? Treatment effect is significant, means of five treatments are
not equal
2. (6 points) An aluminum master alloy manufacturer produces grain refiners in ingot form. The
company produces the product in four furnaces. Each furnace is known to have its own unique
operating characteristics, so any experiment run in the foundry that involves more than one
furnace will consider furnaces as a nuisance variable. The process engineers suspect that stirring
rate impacts the grain size of the product. Each furnace can be run at four different stirring rates.
A randomized block design is run for a particular refiner and the resulting grain size data is as
follows.
Stirring Rate
5
10
15
20

Furnace
1
9
15
15
18

2
5
6
7
10

3
6
7
10
4

4
7
10
3
7

(a) Is there any evidence that stirring rate impacts grain size?
From the information below in an analysis of variance, we can see there is no difference in
mean grain size due to different stirring rates.
Comparisons for grain size
Tukey Pairwise Comparisons: Response = grain size, Term = furnace
Grouping Information Using the Tukey Method and 95% Confidence

furnace
1
2
3
4

N
4
4
4
4

Mean
14.25
7.00
6.75
6.75

Grouping
A
B
B
B

Means that do not share a letter are significantly different.

Tukey Simultaneous 95% CIs

Fisher Pairwise Comparisons: Response = grain size, Term = furnace
Grouping Information Using Fisher LSD Method and 95% Confidence
furnace
1
2
3
4

N
4
4
4
4

Mean
14.25
7.00
6.75
6.75

Grouping
A
B
B
B

Means that do not share a letter are significantly different.

Fisher Individual 95% CIs

Tukey Pairwise Comparisons: Response = grain size, Term = stirring
rate
Grouping Information Using the Tukey Method and 95% Confidence
stirring
rate
20
10
15
5

N
4
4
4
4

Mean
9.75
9.50
8.75
6.75

Grouping
A
A
A
A

Means that do not share a letter are significantly different.

Tukey Simultaneous 95% CIs

Fisher Pairwise Comparisons: Response = grain size, Term = stirring
rate
Grouping Information Using Fisher LSD Method and 95% Confidence
stirring
rate
20

N
4

Mean
9.75

Grouping
A

10
15
5

4
4
4

9.50
8.75
6.75

A
A
A

Means that do not share a letter are significantly different.

Fisher Individual 95% CIs

(b) Graph the residuals from this experiment on a normal probability plot. Interpret this plot.

Residual Plots for grain size

Versus Fits
4

90

Residual

Percent

Normal Probability Plot

99

50
10
1

0
-2
-4

-5.0

-2.5

0.0

2.5

5.0

5.0

7.5

Residual

Histogram

15.0

Versus Order

Residual

Frequency

12.5

2
1

10.0

Fitted Value

2
0
-2
-4

-4

-3

-2

-1

1 2 3

Residual

4 5

6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

Observation Order

From the residual plot we can see that normality assumption is valid.

(c) Plot the residuals versus furnace and stirring rate. Does this plot convey any useful information?
We can also see that variance is consistent at the different stirring rates. So the assumption of
uniform variance is validated. In other words, stirring rates do not affect the variance.
(d) What should the process engineers recommend concerning the choice of stirring rate and furnace
for this particular grain refiner if small grain size is desirable?
There is very little effect due to stirring rate, so really it would just come down to which is
the smallest overall. So eyeballing it, it appears that stirring rate one is the smallest, in every
furnace, although they are all quite small, so any of them would be fine.