In the SAS/IML language, the index creation operator (:) is used to construct a sequence of integer values. For example, the expression 1:7 creates a row vector with seven elements: 1, 2, ..., 7. It is important to know the precedence of matrix operators. When I was in grade school,
Contributed by Chris Decker, US Regional Director for PhUSE ~ PhUSE will be holding three Single Day Events between now and September 14 for pharmaceutical software users. PhUSE, (Pharmaceutical Users Software Exchange) began in 2005 in Europe to provide pharmaceutical software users with an environment where they could create and
Contributed by Ginger Carey and Kathy Valdés, WUSS 2011 Conference Chairs ~ The annual WUSS conference brings hundreds of SAS users and SAS experts together. Whether you are new to the world of SAS or have been using it for years, consider the benefits of attending WUSS 2011 in San
I've previously discussed how to find the root of a univariate function. This article describes how to find the root (zero) of a function of several variables by using Newton's method. There have been many papers, books, and dissertations written on the topic of root-finding, so why am I blogging
SAS Global Forum, the premier event for SAS professionals worldwide, will be held April 22-25, 2012 at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort in Orlando, Florida. Offering unparalleled opportunities for training, education and networking, the conference is expected to once again draw nearly 3,000 SAS users. As an event
Everyone within the health care community recognizes that the traditional ‘pay-and-chase’ model for fraud cost reduction has some serious limitations. Recovery of the lost funds is in some cases a mere single digit percentage point (with some exceptions – but not many) of the moneys paid. And the effort and
At the SAS/IML Support Community, a SAS/IML programmer recently asked how to find "the root of a complicated equation." That's a huge question, and many papers and books have been written on the topic of root-finding, also known as finding the zeros of a function. Everyone has favorite techniques for
One of the great innovations with SAS 9.3 is the focus on ODS statistical graphics. "Wait a minute," you're thinking, "weren't ODS graphics added in SAS 9.2?" Yes, that's true. But with SAS 9.3 there is even more capability: more analytical SAS procedures support the graphs, and there are more
SIFMA held its Dodd-Frank Impact Analysis Summit in New York City on July 13, bringing together almost 500 industry participants for a day-long discussion just prior to the first anniversary of the Act’s passage. In addition to Tim Ryan (SIFMA CEO), the summit included guest speakers Larry Kudlow, Evan Thomas
Recently, I was able to spend a morning with a group of analytics executives at the SAS Power Series in Chicago. I enjoyed it a lot because instead of pontificating about analytics to them, I got to hear about their challenges and approaches in a workshop format. There were a
A matrix is an array of numbers or character strings. When I print a matrix, I usually want to see only the data. However, sometimes it is helpful to add row or column headings that indicate the names of variables or labels for rows. A simple example is count data
In a previous blog post, I showed how to use the LOGISTIC procedure to construct a receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve in SAS. That same day, Charlie H. blogged about how to use the DATA step to construct an ROC curve from basic principles. It has been a long time
I've written about how to add a diagonal line to a scatter plot by using the SGPLOT procedure in SAS 9.2. The main idea (use the VECTOR statement) is easy enough, but writing a program that handles a line with any slope requires some additional effort. But now SAS 9.3
The other day I needed to compute the signum function for each element of a matrix. If x is a real number, then the sgn(x) is -1 when x<0, 1 when x>0, and 0 when x=0. I wrote a SAS/IML module that contains a compact little expression: proc iml; start
I recently blogged about how many times, on average, you must roll a die until you see all six faces. This question is a special case of the coupon collector's problem. My son noted that the expected value (the mean number of rolls) is not necessarily the best statistic to
I was presented with a design approach yesterday that included one web report duplicated multiple times for each group in the organization. Each web report then used essentially an identical information map with the difference of only a filter. Instead of using a single web report with a prompted filter (or copying the web
"Dad? How many times do I have to roll a die until all six sides appear?" I stopped what I was doing to consider my son's question. Although I could figure out the answer mathematically, sometimes experiments are more powerful than math equations for showing how probability works. "Why don't
Yesterday, Jiangtang Hu did a frequency analysis of my blog posts and noticed that there are some holidays on which I post to my blog and others on which I do not. The explanation is simple: I post on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, provided that SAS Institute (World Headquarters) is
I am one of those rare people that enjoys process; not rigid process and military-like discipline, but order. Wasted effort drives me insane. I’ve been on projects all through my career where I feel like the project teams are constantly reinventing the wheel, because nobody bothered to capture any documentation
Dates and times. As Wayne Finley states in his SUGI25 paper on SAS date and time handling, "The SAS system provides a plethora of methods to handle date and time values." Along with the plethora of methods is a plethora of papers on the topic. If you want to trick
I feel privileged to have been invited back to meet with SAS customers throughout New Zealand and Australia. I also feel lucky to escape the North Carolina summer (with temperatures trending in the 90s Fahrenheit) in exchange for the "winter" weather Down Under. For a good chunk of August, I'll
Tuesday's release of SAS 9.3 included the new SAS Forecast Server 4.1, which has several valuable enhancements: Combination (Ensemble) Models: A combination of forecasts using different forecasting techniques can outperform forecasts produced by using any single technique. Users can combine forecasts produced by many different models using several different combination
A couple of weeks ago, SAS Press acquisitions editor Shelley Sessoms gamely agreed to participate in SAS Publishing's first ever "live" Facebook discussion. Shelley is an all-star author recruiter with an average RBI (real book interest) of acquiring 40 book proposals a year. Many SAS and JMP users, as well
On July 13, I attended one of the most interesting business events of my 30 year career, The SAS Power Series in Chicago. What made it so interesting is that the attendees, senior executives from a variety of industries, provided most of the content. The interactive half-day session focused on
Contributed by Chad Austin, SAS Internal Communications The Institute for Operations Research and Management Science (INFORMS) is historically the world’s largest society for professionals in the field of operations research (OR) and management science. Recently, Manoj Chari, Senior R&D Director responsible for operations research at SAS, served on a panel
When looking to add the Stored Process Alert Process (useful to see whether processes run in the BACKGROUND were completed successfully) the specific portlet type is not on the list. No worries, it's actually a personal portlet that is defined to present only YOUR stored process execution results. Therefore to locate
Welcome, SAS 9.3! I've already blogged about some interface and graphical changes that everyone should know about. Now I'll put on my statistical hat and mention a few 9.3 features that excite me, personally, as a data analyst and a statistical programmer: As a statistician, I am keen to try
contributed by SAS Publishing's Shelly Goodin This week's featured SAS Author's Tip is a no-brainer. With the summer heat wave in North Carolina reaching an almost unbearable level, it's cool to have Robert A. Rutledge's book Just Enough SAS on hand. This accessible guide quickly brings new SAS users up
Rick Wicklin created his own list of Five Interface and Graphics Features that Everyone Can Use. It's a very good summary of what you'll immediately notice when you use analytics procedures in SAS display manager: cool graphs turned on by default. For SAS Enterprise Guide users, you won't see such
A popular custom among the diminutive hobbits of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth was giving away presents on their birthdays instead of receiving them. This week, SAS toasted its birthday, celebrating 35 years as an analytic innovator, by giving its customers a gift: the latest version of SAS analytics and data management
