Where to start with overloading
Dylan Jones (@dataqualitypro) explains how data overloading occurs -- and how to find a better solution.
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The new book on my desk
In my constant effort to keep pace with Chris Hemedinger, I am pleased to announce the availability of my new book, Simulating Data with SAS. Chris started a tradition for SAS Press authors to post a photo of themselves with their new book. Thanks to everyone who helped with the
Jazzing up the ODS DOCUMENT statement
PROC DOCUMENT is one of the niftier tools in SAS. To get the most benefit out of it, you need to create a workflow that makes saving your work to the document effortless. This post discusses some things that can help you get more out of PROC DOCUMENT. It will
The whys and hows of simulating data
When I told a friend that the title of my new book is Simulating Data with SAS, she asked, “Why would anyone want to simulate data?” To her, data are measured or surveyed. Data tell us how big, how often, and how many. Data indicate people’s opinions about politics and
SAS Global Forum Take-Out: Fast food for your SAS appetite
SAS Global Forum is like a BIG buffet of SAS knowledge, all served up in just a few days. There are so many good presentations and activities, but you cannot fit them all on your plate. You have to choose. To make the choices easier, the SAS Global Forum committee
How to overlay a custom density curve on a histogram in SAS
I've previously described how to overlay two or more density curves on a single plot. I've also written about how to use PROC SGPLOT to overlay custom curves on a graph. This article describes how to overlay a density curve on a histogram. For common distributions, you can overlay a
Identity theft? Next step, government fraud
Sometimes, it is good to start with a confession. I filed my taxes at the last minute. It was past time to get some money back from the IRS before they could waste $60,000 on another Star Trek spoof video. Normally I'm one of those people that files in February,
SAS Tech Talks: Watch them live during SAS Global Forum
Even if you cannot attend SAS Global Forum next week, you can experience it virtually via the Livestream sessions. This year I will reprise my role as host of SAS Tech Talks, a pair of live webcasts that feature SAS R&D professionals and their latest technological wares. Click "play" on
Stat Wars Episode 3: The nerve of some design variables!
Our favorite Stat Wars duo is at it again. This time they bring a SAS user into the mix to help answer her question about PROC LOGISTIC. The user is trying to determine the best method for running logistic regression model on clinical trial data of analgesics used to treat
Headed to SAS Global Forum
It’s that time of year again, where I make my plans to head to SAS Global Forum. This year, the meeting is in San Francisco and, since I love this city, it makes me more excited than ever to meet with SAS friends. This user conference is planned and organized
How to overlay custom curves with PROC SGPLOT
I recently showed someone a trick to create a graph, and he was extremely pleased to learn it. The trick is well known to many SAS users, but I hope that this article will introduce it to even more SAS users. At issue is how to use the SGPLOT procedure
SAS author's tip: Inputting data using text value positioning
This week's SAS tip is from Phil Mason and his ever-helpful book In the Know...SAS Tips and Techniques From Around the Globe, Second Edition. When the book released in 2006, it received a lot of praise from the user community. This quote from SAS user Ron Fehd is a personal favorite: "Phil Mason, one of the SAS
Quantile regression: Better than connecting the sample quantiles of binned data
I often see variations of the following question posted on statistical discussion forums: I want to bin the X variable into a small number of values. For each bin, I want to draw the quartiles of the Y variable for that bin. Then I want to connect the corresponding quartile
The important people you meet at SAS Global Forum
In the SAS User Groups LinkedIn group, some generous "old timers" offer tips to the potentially shy newcomers for connecting with other SAS professionals at SAS Global Forum. Perhaps these folks remember their own introverted natures, and they want to encourage attendees to get the most out of their conference
The book writing business: Tricia Aanderud and Angela Hall tackle reviewer comments
Welcome! It’s time for another installment of the Book Writing Business. We’ve talked about the writing aspect and how it can help one’s career. Some people feel overwhelmed at the thought of writing a book. But sometimes the actual writing of the book is the easy part. The tough part
An assortment of activity at Global Forum
This year at SAS Global Forum, the theme is “Strength in Numbers” and SAS Education is offering a number of training and certification opportunities to strengthen your SAS knowledge. We hope that you will take advantage of this unique chance to take a class, get SAS certified and attend the
Getting Started with SAS - now available for viewing
Getting Started with SAS -- a free webinar for new SAS users -- is now available for on-demand viewing. During this SAS Talks session, Stacey Syphus and I review the basics of what SAS is, what people use it for, and what you can expect to see as a new
Busting myths of education value-added analysis, Part 3: Simple growth measures provide better information to educators.
Welcome to Part 3 of the value-added Myth Busters blog series. I have heard a variation of this many times. “Why shouldn’t educators just use a simple gains approach or a pre- and post-test? They can trust simpler methodologies because they can replicate and understand them more easily.” Simple growth measures
e-Courses have gone mobile so you can too! Try the new e-Courses and register for a free IPad® at SAS Global Forum
We’ve gone mobile so you can too. Come see us at SAS Global Forum and be one of the first to try our new e-Courses on the tablet! SAS Programming 1 and SAS Programming 2, soon available on your tablet devices, also feature free access to the SAS Practice editor
The role of statistics in the top public health achievements of the 20th century
In this International Year of Statistics, I'd like to describe the major role of statistics in public health advances. In our modern society, it is sometimes difficult to recall the huge advances in health and medicine in the 20th century. To name a few: penicillin was discovered in 1928, risk
SAS / Foresight webinar series debuts April 24
This week Nate Silver, renowned election forecaster (fivethirtyeight blog) and top selling author (of the excellent The Signal and the Noise), spoke at an event here in my building on the SAS campus. Unfortunately, I wasn't considered a B enough of a FD to land an invite to Nate's presentation. However,
SAS author's tip: Creating a cross-tabulation table
This week's SAS tip is from Ron Cody and his popular book SAS Statistics by Example. Ron is the author of many bestselling SAS books. If you like this week's excerpt, visit his author page for additional bonus content from his books! The following excerpt is from SAS Press author Ron
Creating fancy 'infographics' with SAS
I haven't seen an official definition of 'infographic' that I really like ... but in my mind it's something 1/2 way between data visualization & artwork. It borrows elements from graphs & dashboards, and combines that with an artistic poster. If you perform a Google image search on infographic you'll see
How to generate multiple samples from the multivariate normal distribution in SAS
A SAS customer asks: How do I use SAS to generate multiple samples of size N from a multivariate normal distribution? Suppose that you want to simulate k samples (each with N observations) from a multivariate normal distribution with a given mean vector and covariance matrix. Because all of the
Point/Counterpoint: Where should you put ODS SELECT and ODS OUTPUT statements?
ODS statements are global SAS statements. As such, you can put them anywhere in your SAS program. For maximum readability, many SAS programmers agree that most ODS statements should appear outside procedures in "open" SAS code. For example, most programmers agree that the following statements should appear outside of procedures:
Learn how to become a published author at SAS Global Forum
Where do you go when you want to mix and mingle with like-minded folks? Where do you go when you want to share best practices and talk about the latest advances in software? If you’re a SAS user, the answer is SAS Global Forum in San Francisco. And while in
4 things you should know about Big Data
I recently attended the O'Reilly Tools of Change for Publishing Conference in New York, and I have to confess, I had a Twitter eureka moment. I was sitting in a conference room, waiting for the next session to start and reading tweets from a publishing industry contact I've longtime admired
State leaders must take the wheel of transportation infrastructure reform
A few weeks ago I found myself in a room full of fellow transportation geeks (a term I use with great respect) at the annual American Association of State and Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Washington Briefing. One panel in particular really got the room buzzing with talk about the transportation
The difference of density estimates: When does it make sense?
I was recently asked how to compute the difference between two density estimates in SAS. The person who asked the question sent me a link to a paper from The Review of Economics and Statistics that contains several examples of this technique (for example, see Figure 3 on p. 16
Enterprise Guide vs. SAS Add-In for Microsoft Office
Geht es Ihnen nicht auch so? Ich liebe Excel! Von „Mal schnell was ausrechnen…“ bis zur Gewinn- und Verlustrechnung für die Steuererklärung ein rundum gelungenes Programm, bei dem man komplexe Formeln direkt da hin schreiben kann, wo sie berechnet werden und man sogar noch genügend Formatierungsmöglichkeiten hat, um nachher was