Learning the TSP:
a guide for students at the
国際総合学類筑波大学
For the following classes of
Professor Tadashi Yamada:
Microeconomics
Statistics
Human Resources
prep:JCB,’02
Learning the TSP:
a guide for students at the
国際総合学類筑波大学
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Downloading: point mouse to filename, right click and choose “Save file”.
This tutorial is basic and is intended for those running basic statistical/econometric analysis.
For more advanced students please refer to the TSP programming manual
TSP is a copyrighted software. The college and the institute do have a site license. Thus, you
can access and use the program at any computer terminal in the College.
Learning the TSP
Data: X’s and Y’s
 Gather the needed data.
- What are you investigating?
- What data is relevant to this
topic?
- Possible sources are:
(a) data books
(b) internet
(c) survey sheets
 Two ways of putting
together your data will be
discussed in two sections of
this basic tutorial.
- Input gathered data in a
spreadsheet program.
- Input gathered data using a
text editor.
For example, the Japan Statistics
Bureau have a collection of data
online. Choose the relevant data and
type a table then save in a file.
Learning the TSP
Data: X’s and Y’s 2
 Values should be typed
top to bottom.
 Some students put the
name of variable on the
left and then type data
horizontally. This will
not be read by TSP.
 Please type in data
vertically. It will save
you a lot of time.
Learning the TSP
Data: X’s and Y’s 3
 Except for the
variable name,
all data should
be numerical
values, i.e.,
numbers.
No letters allowed as data!
Learning the TSP
Data: X’s and Y’s 4
well presented table
 A spreadsheet
program will help
you create graphs if
you want to, but any
well presented table
will be useful later
when passing in your
report.
Setting the Data File:
Spreadsheet Format
This section describes how to input and format
spreadsheet data files for use with the TSP
program. This uses the Excel as the main example
although other spreadsheet programs will work.
Learning the TSP
Spreadsheet formats
 Presented Table
using a spreadsheet
program
 To be able to submit
a well-presented
table, the standard
spreadsheet
programs are helpful.
In this case, a data
set on the Japanese
labor market is
presented.
Learning the TSP
Setting the Data File for TSP Use: EXCEL


Consider that you have a table presented below.
Step 1. Delete all irrelevant information and designs.
Step 2. On the first line of the edited file, put variable names, what
you want to call the variables, on the first line.
In TSP (and other Statistics Programs) the first row is the variable
name: 8 characters (英数） long and in Roman Alphabet.
Reminder: This table will NOT be
read by TSP. Make sure you save
it however, you need to submit a
well-presented table of the data
you used together with your report.
Learning the TSP
Setting the Data File: EXCEL
 After following the previous instructions, your worksheet
should now look like the one presented below.
 Copy and Paste entire worksheet to a new file. (Menu bar:
File, new (ファイル新規作成））
 Variable Names – make them easy to remember!
 Save this new worksheet under another name.
malehrwg = 男性・月平均
労働時間
Obs = observation
 1~47 for each
prefecture. Thus,
1=Hokkaido
NO SPACES BETWEEN
COLUMN AND ROWS!
Learning the TSP
Setting the Data File: EXCEL
 Save your working
file, using “SaveAs”
[名前をつけて保存]
 The filename must
be 8 characters long
and no spaces in
between.
 Pull down the scroll
bar for file type
(ファイル種類) then
save your working
file as version 4 on
Excel or ver3 or less
on Lotus.
 (Note:TSP45 cannot
read EXCEL97~
formats)
Setting the Data File:
Text Editor File
This section describes how to use ASCII inputted
data for the TSP program. TeraPad, NotePad,
EmEditor etc. can be used for this section.
Learning the TSP
Sample Tables: formats
 Presented
Table using a
text editor
 As example, a
data set on the
US economy
is used.
Learning the TSP
Setting the Data File: TXT File
 Consider that you have




a table presented as
follows:
The FIRST ROW
MUST CONTAIN
THE VALUES FOR
THE INITIAL
OBSERVATION.
Values have to be
separated by tab
spaces.
This table might be
informative but this
will NOT be read by
TSP.
Remember you need to
pass a well-presented
table. So save this file!
REMOVE TITLE, SPACES AND
BARS and LABELS. THE FIRST
LINE HAS INITIAL
OBSERVATION’S VALUES!
VALUES ARE SEPARATED BY “TAB” SPACES
REMOVE ANY OTHER
INFORMATION THAT ARE
NOT VARIABLE VALUES.
Learning the TSP
Setting the Data File: TXT File2
 After following the
instructions from
the previous slide,
the new table would
now look like this.
 There is no name on
the first line for a
TSP-enabled text
data file!
FIRST ROW
CONTAINS
values
VALUES ARE SEPARATED BY
“TAB” SPACES
Learning the TSP
Setting the Data File: TXT File3
 Save this under a new filename.
Remember: 8 alphanumeric
characters long and with “.txt”
extension name.
 Text editor values can be copied
and pasted directly to TSP while
spreadsheet format data needs to be
placed as in-file programs. Some
people find working with text
editors to be far easier than
spreadsheet formats.
 Values from the internet are usually
in ASCII characters so they can be
easily used for programs like TSP,
which is the plus point for ASCII
encoded values.
Learning the TSP
Ready to Run TSP
 Now that working data files have been prepared, what
comes next is writing a TSP batch program file.
 It must be noted that TSP runs on DOS and UNIX on
an interactive matrix, however batch files using TSP
Windows will be illustrated here. For more
experienced users please refer to the Manual.
 There are two files: choose what is appropriate for
you:
– TSP using spreadsheet (Lotus/Quattro/Excel) files.
– TSP using text (ASCII encoded) files
End of part1