A few years ago I wrote a blogpost titled, An End to "But": More kindness and complexity in our words. I'm revisiting the concept as it seems apt for our times. With most of us living in increased isolation, the voice in our head may feel louder than ever. Now
Editor's note: This blog post is the first in a series of posts, originally published here by our partner News Literacy Project, exploring the role of data in understanding our world. Charts and graphs are useful tools for communicating complex information. They allow consumers to see — rather than read or calculate — differences
When it comes to plotting mortgage rate data, I often look to Len Kiefer for inspiration. He recently posted a retro-looking graph on twitter that caught my eye ... and of course I had to see if I could create something similar using SAS. For lack of a better term,
The pandemic has done more to drive consumer adoption of online channels than any digital transformation initiative – but companies should be careful what they wish for. 2020 has been a difficult year for everyone, and as the coronavirus continues to impact lives, health and the economy, it would be
Public and private schools are struggling to figure out how to bring face-to-face instruction to students during this pandemic. Health risks to students and teachers, parents struggling with child-care options and/or support for virtual learning, and schools’ capacities and budget limitations make this problem a severe logistical challenge. Schools need
An analyst report offers an unbiased, side-by-side, third-party evaluation of the technology in the market. These analysts know how to put the vendors through the paces and require proof of any claims that are made.
A fundamental principle of data analysis is that a statistic is an estimate of a parameter for the population. A statistic is calculated from a random sample. This leads to uncertainty in the estimate: a different random sample would have produced a different statistic. To quantify the uncertainty, SAS procedures
[Editor's note: This post was co-authored with Fritz Lehman, COO of Zencos] In 1976, the blockbuster movie Jaws was the number one grossing film. Why? Because it had a great villain – the great white shark. The movie told a vivid (and all too familiar) story about plans gone awry
The first principle of analytics is about bringing the right analytics technology to the right place at the right time. Whether your data are on-premises, in the cloud, or at the edges of the network – analytics needs to be there with it. Being true to this principle means we
Jim Harris examines coronavirus terms that are crucial to data-driven decisions in the pandemic.
The companies I usually deal with, especially healthy and successful ones, often don’t believe that they need to change. However, I think this is where problems take root. I believe changes should be made when things are going well because when they have gone wrong, it's too late. You no
Every presidential candidate has a list of states they’re expected to win, but there are always states that are too close to call because they have similar numbers of registered voters for each of the two dominant political parties: Democrat and Republican. It’s in these “swing” states that candidates invest
SAS has always believed in the power of education, but in today’s data-driven economy, it’s more important than ever to ensure our students are introduced to data science at an early age. We as a company are focusing our resources on creating student experiences in data literacy, computer science and
A global teaching resource for post-COVID-19 academia During the COVID-19 pandemic, governments used data science modelling to justify actions around lockdowns, and then again, in due course, when they eased restrictions. These actions affected billions of citizens’ lives and livelihoods. The importance of analytical calculation and competence was brought home,
SAS' Véronique Van Vlasselaer reveals why managing model performance is as important as putting them into production.
No access to locker rooms? It's cold outside! How do I get out of my swim suit for the ride home? Won't it be cold? These are some of the most common questions we've had since we re-opened the Natatorium. Gracefully changing out of your wet suit into dry clothes
The triangulation theorem for polygons says that every simple polygon can be triangulated. In fact, if the polygon has V vertices, you can decompose it into V-2 non-overlapping triangles. In this article, a "polygon" always means a simple polygon. Also, a "random point" means one that is drawn at random
Discovery is an important part of setting up your analysis for success – essentially it prevents you from plunging into a haystack to try to find that elusive needle, and rather, helps you organize the haystack into neater, compact organized bales that you can navigate with ease. Proper discovery can help you more efficiently find patterns in your data set.
Here in the United States, we have our general election (where we elect the president) every four years - and 2020 happens to be one of those election years. This time we seem to have a lot more people voting early. I can't tell you the reason they're voting early
Who Helps the World? Girls! Decades of research show there's one strong difference in what young men and women say they value in a future career: The opportunity to help others. And young women are far more likely to say that they want a job where they can have a positive
What does the AI enterprise of the future look like? That’s a tough question that I’ve been asked to consider, along with a distinguished panel at Valley ML AI Expo 2020. The title of the panel is, “Life, the Universe and the AI Enterprise of the Future.” Based on an initial chat with panel chair Gautam Khera, I’ve written up some possible topics we’ll be covering on the panel. Consider
When you use SAS software, you might occasionally encounter an issue with SASUSER. This post helps you debug some of the more common issues: a warning message indicates that SASUSER.TEMPLAT is not an item store or that you cannot write to SASUSER.TEMPLAT a note in the log indicates that SAS
Sherrine Eid believes there is strength in numbers. At SAS, we have access to some of the best and brightest scientists, mathematicians, econometricians, epidemiologists and biostatisticians, who are all driven by the same thing: They want to make this world a better place. "My passion is to objectively assess patterns
Depending on who you talk to, you'll get varying definitions and opinions regarding demand sensing. Anything from sensing short-range replenishment based on sales orders, to the manual blending of point-of-sales (POS) data and shipments. But a key component for retailers and CPG companies is accurately forecasting short-term consumer demand to
How can you efficiently generate N random uniform points in a triangular region of the plane? There is a very cool algorithm (which I call the reflection method) that makes the process easy. I no longer remember where I saw this algorithm, but it is different from the "weighted average"
“Technology is an industry that eats its young, it is rare to come across providers that have been around for more than a human generation.” Tony Bear, Big on Data With more than 40 years in the market, SAS is one of the rare technology providers that has been around
Two billion people worldwide experience food insecurity and 14% of food produced for humans to consume is wasted before it arrives at the wholesaler, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The FAO celebrates World Food Day on October 16, 2020. This year’s event focuses
Now that we are many months into the COVID-19 pandemic, we can start to reexamine the data and look for trends. This time, I want to explore how COVID-19 has been spreading around the US. I do this by animating a county map over time. What is animation? Are you
Over the last 30 years, manufacturing in Romania has seen huge changes from a planned economy to a market-based one. It now has a very diverse manufacturing scene, with both large and small companies, and a wide range of products from steel through to finished goods. However, few manufacturers are
Whether you’re looking for technical or business opportunities, a strong resume will help you stand out from the crowd and make a good first impression. But resume creation is an art, not a science, and starting from scratch can feel daunting. Never fear – our intern Program Manager, Kristen Garbarino, is here! She sees thousands of student resumes each year, so we asked for her take
