Contrasts: providing insight into the design of efficient industrial experiments

The use of contrasts as a design of experiments teaching tool is considered. The concept of contrasts and an application presented. The tool is useful in identifying an efficient set of experimental runs in what might otherwise be a full factorial experiment. Contrasts may also be used to analyze the data that come out of the experiment. The easiest way to learn about contrasts is by applying them to the analysis of data. Insights from that application facilitate the understanding of how contrasts contribute to identifying an efficient set of experimental runs