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Learn SAS

Learn about the latest tips, tutorials, upcoming events and certifications

Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Rick WicklinJuly 31, 2019 0

Use numeric values for column headers when printing a matrix

Sometimes a little thing can make a big difference. I am enjoying a new enhancement of SAS/IML 15.1, which enables you to use a numeric vector as the column header or row header when you print a SAS/IML matrix. Prior to SAS/IML 15.1, you had to use the CHAR or

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Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Rick WicklinJuly 29, 2019 0

Vectorize the computation of the Mandelbrot set in a matrix language

When my colleague, Robert Allison, blogged about visualizing the Mandelbrot set, I was reminded of a story from the 1980s, which was the height of the fractal craze. A research group in computational mathematics had been awarded a multimillion-dollar grant to purchase a supercomputer. When the supercomputer arrived and got

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Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Rick WicklinJuly 24, 2019 0

Implement the Gumbel distribution in SAS

SAS supports more than 25 common probability distributions for the PDF, CDF, QUANTILE, and RAND functions. Of course, there are infinitely many distributions, so not every possible distribution is supported. If you need a less-common distribution, I've shown how to extend the functionality of Base SAS (by using PROC FCMP)

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Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Kathryn McLawhornJuly 19, 2019 0

How the RANK procedure calculates ranks with groups and ties

The RANK procedure (PROC RANK) is useful for ranking numeric variables in a data set across observations. You often see PROC RANK used to rank data into quartiles, deciles, or percentiles. This action requires that you use the GROUPS= option in the PROC RANK statement. This blog answers three questions

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Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Leonid BatkhanJuly 17, 2019 0

Passing comma-delimited values into SAS macros and macro functions

Have you ever tried to pass comma-delimited values to SAS macro or to a SAS macro function? How can SAS distinguish commas separating parameters or arguments from commas separating parts of the values? Passing comma-delimited value as an argument to a SAS macro function Let’s say you want to extract

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Advanced Analytics | Learn SAS

Missy HannahJuly 15, 2019 0

Curious about SAS® Viya®? Discover two new free SAS Press e-books!

With all the excitement around SAS’ new software architecture, SAS Viya, we often get asked the question: What is it and how can it help my company conquer our analytics challenges? Fortunately, learning more about SAS Viya has never been easier. SAS Viya extends the SAS® Platform and provides reliable,

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Data Visualization | Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Rick WicklinJuly 15, 2019 0

Create a discrete heat map with PROC SGPLOT

Heat maps have many uses. You can use a heat map to visualize correlation matrices, to visualize longitudinal data ("lasagna plots"), and to visualize counts in any two-dimensional table. As of SAS 9.4m3, you can create heat maps in SAS by using the HEATMAP and HEATMAPPARM statements in PROC SGPLOT.

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Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Derek MorganJuly 10, 2019 0

SAS Press Author Derek Morgan on Timetables and Model Trains

I was sitting in a model railroad club meeting when one of our more enthusiastic young members said, "Wouldn't it be cool if we could make a computer simulation, with trains going between stations and all. We could have cars and engines assigned to each train and timetables and…" So,

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Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Rick WicklinJuly 3, 2019 0

Create a custom informat in SAS

An informat helps you read data into a SAS data set. SAS supports more than 100 informats. The most common informats are related to dates and times and make it easy to read an input string such as 28JAN2001 and convert it to a SAS date such as 15003. Yet

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Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Missy HannahJuly 2, 2019 0

Summer reading – Book recommendations from SAS Press authors

One of my favorite parts of summer is a relaxing weekend by the pool. Summer is the time I get to finally catch up on my reading list, which has been building over the year. So, if expanding your knowledge is a goal of yours this summer, SAS Press has

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Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Leonid BatkhanJune 26, 2019 0

Finding n-th instance of a substring within a string

"There's a way to do it better - find it." - Thomas A. Edison When it comes to SAS coding, this quote by Thomas A. Edison is my best advisor. Time permitting, I love finding better ways of implementing SAS code. But what code feature means “better” – brevity, clarity

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Analytics | Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Rick WicklinJune 26, 2019 0

Jump-start PROC LOGISTIC by using parameter estimates from PROC HPLOGISTIC

SAS/STAT software contains a number of so-called HP procedures for training and evaluating predictive models. ("HP" stands for "high performance.") A popular HP procedure is HPLOGISTIC, which enables you to fit logistic models on Big Data. A goal of the HP procedures is to fit models quickly. Inferential statistics such

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Analytics | Data Visualization | Learn SAS

Rick WicklinJune 24, 2019 0

Add loess smoothers to residual plots

When fitting a least squares regression model to data, it is often useful to create diagnostic plots of the residuals versus the explanatory variables. If the model fits the data well, the plots of the residuals should not display any patterns. Systematic patterns can indicate that you need to include

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Learn SAS | Machine Learning | SAS Events

Anna BrownJune 20, 2019 0

A playful way to get your hands on SAS: the Data Science Escape Rooms

Move over video games and sports. Make room for escape rooms. This burgeoning form of entertainment found its roots in the video gaming movement. Escape rooms tap into a player's drive to reach the next level, solve a puzzle and win. Escape rooms present a physical game that traps you

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Analytics | Data Visualization | Learn SAS

Rick WicklinJune 19, 2019 0

Influential observations in a linear regression model: The DFFITS and Cook's D statistics

A previous article describes the DFBETAS statistics for detecting influential observations, where "influential" means that if you delete the observation and refit the model, the estimates for the regression coefficients change substantially. Of course, there are other statistics that you could use to measure influence. Two popular ones are the

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Analytics | Data Visualization | Learn SAS

Rick WicklinJune 17, 2019 0

Influential observations in a linear regression model: The DFBETAS statistics

My article about deletion diagnostics investigated how influential an observation is to a least squares regression model. In other words, if you delete the i_th observation and refit the model, what happens to the statistics for the model? SAS regression procedures provide many tables and graphs that enable you to

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Learn SAS

Shannon Lasater

Shannon LasaterJune 11, 2019 0

Always wishing for more examples? Check out SAS’ new enhancement to the documentation

Sometimes the questions are complicated, and the answers are simple. - Dr. Seuss It seems appropriate that this blog include a Dr. Seuss quote about learning when discussing a new simple, yet deceivingly powerful initiative to help SAS customers with their journey to discover as much as possible about our

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Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Rick WicklinJune 10, 2019 0

5 reasons to use PROC FORMAT to recode variables in SAS

Recoding variables can be tedious, but it is often a necessary part of data analysis. Almost every SAS programmer has written a DATA step that uses IF-THEN/ELSE logic or the SELECT-WHEN statements to recode variables. Although creating a new variable is effective, it is also inefficient because you have to

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Learn SAS

Missy HannahJune 6, 2019 0

Interview with new SAS Press authors: Jim Blum and Jonathan Duggins

Want to learn SAS programming but worried about taking the plunge? Over at SAS Press, we are excited about an upcoming publication that introduces newbies to SAS in a peer-review instruction format we have found popular for the classroom. Professors Jim Blum and Jonathan Duggins have written Fundamentals of Programming

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Data Visualization | Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Rick WicklinJune 5, 2019 0

Plot a family of curves in SAS

A family of curves is generated by an equation that has one or more parameters. To visualize the family, you might want to display a graph that overlays four of five curves that have different parameter values, as shown to the right. The graph shows members of a family of

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Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Mike ZizziJune 4, 2019 0

SAS or Python? Why not use both? Using Python functions inside SAS programs

Two sayings I’ve heard countless times throughout my life are “Work smarter, not harder,” and “Use the best tool for the job.” If you need to drive a nail, you pick up a hammer, not a wrench or a screwdriver. In the programming world, this could mean using an existing

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Data Visualization | Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Rick WicklinJune 3, 2019 0

Graph wide data and long data in SAS

Statistical programmers and analysts often use two kinds of rectangular data sets, popularly known as wide data and long data. Some analytical procedures require that the data be in wide form; others require long form. (The "long format" is sometimes called "narrow" or "tall" data.) Fortunately, the statistical graphics procedures

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Analytics | Data Visualization | Learn SAS

Rick WicklinMay 30, 2019 0

Visualize interaction effects in regression models

Knowing how to visualize a regression model is a valuable skill. A good visualization can help you to interpret a model and understand how its predictions depend on explanatory factors in the model. Visualization is especially important in understanding interactions between factors. Recently I read about work by Jacob A.

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Learn SAS | SAS Events

Charu ShankarMay 30, 2019 0

New at SAS: Psychometric testing

Human behavior is fascinating. We come in so many shapes, sizes and backgrounds. Doesn’t it make sense that any tests we write also accommodate our wonderful differences?

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Data Visualization | Learn SAS

Scott HicksMay 21, 2019 0

Essentials of Map Coordinate Systems and Projections in Visual Analytics

If you spend any time working with maps and spatial data, having a fundamental understanding of coordinate systems and map projections becomes necessary. It’s the foundation of how spatial data and maps work. These areas invariably evoke trepidation and some angst, even in the most seasoned map professional. And rightfully

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Learn SAS

Missy HannahMay 17, 2019 0

Do books count as endangered species?

As a publishing house inside of SAS, we often hear: “Does anyone want to read books anymore?” Especially technical programmers who are “too busy” to read. About a quarter of American adults (24%) say they haven’t read a book in whole or in part in the past year, whether in

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Analytics | Learn SAS

Rick WicklinMay 15, 2019 0

What is Kolmogorov's D statistic?

Have you ever run a statistical test to determine whether data are normally distributed? If so, you have probably used Kolmogorov's D statistic. Kolmogorov's D statistic (also called the Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistic) enables you to test whether the empirical distribution of data is different than a reference distribution. The reference distribution

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Data Visualization | Learn SAS | Programming Tips

PROC SGMAP SCATTER of Movie Locations

Kelly MillsMay 14, 2019 0

Geocoding US Street Addresses and Plotting Them with PROC SGMAP

I met many SAS programmers at the 2019 SAS Global Forum who geocode addresses using ArcGIS. Did you know that street address locations and other things can be found using the SAS GEOCODE procedure? PROC GEOCODE gives you coordinates for address, ZIP codes, ZIP+4 codes and cities. You can even

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Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Rick WicklinMay 13, 2019 0

Write to a SAS data set from inside a SAS/IML loop

In SAS/IML programs, a common task is to write values in a matrix to a SAS data set. For some programs, the values you want to write are in a matrix and you use the CREATE FROM/APPEND FROM syntax to create the data set, as follows: proc iml; X =

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Learn SAS

Missy HannahMay 10, 2019 0

Happy National Limerick Day from SAS Press!

May 12th is #NationalLimerickDay! If you saw our Valentine’s Day poem, you know we at SAS Press love creating poems and fun rhymes, so check out our limericks below! So, what’s a limerick? National Limerick Day is observed each year on May 12th and honors the birthday of the famed

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