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Polly Mitchell-GuthrieOctober 23, 2015 0

Data science training - is it possible?

Ok, so the title is a little provocative, but some people are dubious that data science training is even possible, because they believe data science entails skills one can learn only on the job and not in a classroom. I am not in that camp, although I do believe that data

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Maggie MillerOctober 19, 2015 0

25 Fun Facts about SAS Press authors

You’ve read their books. You’ve probably even met them at conferences. But now, we’re revealing another side of our beloved SAS authors in this list of fun facts. Prepare to be surprised. Hint – one of the authors swims with sharks. Tricia Aanderud Tricia has over 100 jokes memorized -

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Cindy PuryearOctober 8, 2015 0

How my SAS Press book was born

This guest blog post comes from Dr. David Dickey, one of our original SAS Press authors. Hope you enjoy! In the late 1970s, shortly after SAS was founded, I was approached by Herbert Kirk and John Brocklebank from SAS to put together a course on time series. This was reasonably

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Rick WicklinOctober 7, 2015 0

Tabulate counts when there are unobserved categories

Suppose that you are tabulating the eye colors of students in a small class (following Friendly, 1992). Depending upon the ethnic groups of these students, you might not observe any green-eyed students. How do you put a 0 into the table that summarizes the number of students who have each

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Analytics | Learn SAS

Jeff ZeanahOctober 5, 2015 0

What Hurricane Joaquin can teach us about analytics

While holed up inside, like many others on the East Coast of the United States, suffering from record-breaking rainfall and watching the path of Hurricane Joaquin, I found a perfect metaphor for handling a problem in explaining analytics. Many executives bemoan the fact that it seems to take forever for

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Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Rick WicklinOctober 5, 2015 0

How to generate random integers in SAS

You can use SAS to generate random integers between 1–10 or in the range 1–100. This article shows how to generate random integers as easily as Excel does. I was recently talking with some SAS customers and I was asked "Why can't SAS create an easy way to generate random

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Rebecca Ottesen

Rebecca OttesenOctober 2, 2015 0

Got Data? Teaching SAS Programming for the Real World

For students to become capable data analysts, they need experience that they can take with them into the real world after graduation. By far the most critical skill for their toolkit is learning to work with real-life data. Therefore, it is important from a teaching standpoint that instructors provide students

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Julie PlattSeptember 29, 2015 0

25 Reasons to Write a Book with SAS Press

As we continue our celebration of 25 years of SAS Press, I thought I’d share 25 reasons why you should write a book with us and become a SAS Press author. It’s not all work; we also have fun through this enriching journey from idea to print! Here’s our top

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Rick WicklinSeptember 28, 2015 0

Ten "one-liners" that create test matrices for statistical programmers

You've had a long day. You've implemented a custom algorithm in the SAS/IML language. But before you go home, you want to generate some matrices and test your program. If you are like me, you prefer a short statement—one line would be best. However, you also want the flexibility to

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Susan FaragoSeptember 25, 2015 0

Beyond the Credential: Humans behind the exams

What is your first reaction to this question: “How would you like to take an exam today?” If you are like most people, you probably responded in a not so positive way. Maybe your brow furrowed, you physically leaned away from your computer (and this article), or your stomach knotted

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Marc HuberSeptember 24, 2015 0

Forecasting more than just your odds in Las Vegas

In October I will be at the Analytics 2015 conference in Las Vegas. I’ve never been to Las Vegas before. People tell me that if you are better than average in forecasting where a small ball will end up after it’s been spinning for a while in a dish with

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Rebecca Ottesen

Rebecca OttesenSeptember 22, 2015 0

Administering on-campus SAS Certification exams

At California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo the Statistics Department offers two courses on preparation for the Base SAS Certification and Advanced SAS Certification exams, respectively. Each of these courses is 10 weeks long and the topics covered follow the content offered in the certification guides offered by SAS.

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Rick WicklinSeptember 21, 2015 0

Excluding variables: Read all but one variable into a matrix

Dear Rick, I have a data set with 1,001 numerical variables. One variable is the response, the others are explanatory variable. How can I read the 1,000 explanatory variables into an IML matrix without typing every name? That's a good question. You need to be able to perform two sub-tasks:

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Mike JanesSeptember 18, 2015 0

Q&A with data mining instructor Jeff Thompson

Do you want to know what will happen in the future? To gain true predictive insight, skip the tea leaves and look toward your data. SAS instructor Jeff Thompson is a high-energy data mining expert who will be demonstrating how to gain predictive insight from your data in his new

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Mike JanesSeptember 16, 2015 0

Boost your big data skills at Analytics 2015

Among the tightly held cards, piles of chips and bright lights, there have been stories that have unfolded in Las Vegas that have been forever preserved in time, never seeing the light of day. But what if what happened in Vegas…could be shared with excitement with your friends and family?

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Jim SimonSeptember 4, 2015 0

Random Sampling: What's Efficient?

Suppose you wish to select a random sample from a large SAS dataset. No problem. The PROC SURVEYSELECT step below randomly selects a 2 percent sample: proc surveyselect data=large out=sample method=srs /* simple random sample */ n=1000000; /* sample size */ run; Do you have a SAS/STAT license? If not,

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Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Lora D. DelwicheSeptember 3, 2015 0

What’s wrong with this SAS program?

I think everyone can agree that being able to debug programs is an important skill for SAS programmers. That’s why Susan Slaughter and I devoted a whole chapter to it in The Little SAS® Book. I don’t know about you, but I think figuring out what’s wrong with my program

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Analytics | Learn SAS

Emanuela Sferco

Emanuela SfercoSeptember 3, 2015 0

Analytics 2015 lands in Rome on Nov. 9-11

The digital disruption phenomenon is redrawing the market map. New players, products and services are gaining competitive advantage, while traditional business and revenue models are being questioned. Gartner believes that by 2020, thanks to the Internet of Things, information will be used to reinvent, digitalize or eliminate 80% of business

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Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Ruth Dobson-TorresSeptember 2, 2015 0

Serving up SAS training in cities near you

The 2015 United States Tennis Open tournament is now underway, and like most tennis fans, I’ve got my eyes on women’s tennis great Serena Williams, as she attempts to make history by winning the tournament and achieving a calendar Grand Slam. What are her chances of reaching the milestone? Most

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Jim SimonAugust 31, 2015 0

Reading Hierarchical Data - Part 3

This post is the third and final in a series that illustrates three different solutions to "flattening" hierarchical data. Don't forget to catch up with Part 1 and Part 2. Solution 2, from my previous post, created one observation per header record, with detail data in a wide format, like

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Analytics | Learn SAS

Jeff ZeanahAugust 28, 2015 0

The one piece of advice everyone in analytics needs to hear

I was recently asked why I would recommend my new class, Explaining Analytics to Decision Makers: Insights to Action. The answer goes back to some great advice, a lunch of eggplant parmesan and in another more twisted way, to what was ironically affectionately known as the “bomb plant.” Early in

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Stacey HamiltonAugust 28, 2015 0

SAS Press is heading to JMP Discovery Summit

In a little more than two weeks, I will be in one of my favorite places, San Diego, California, recruiting potential SAS Press authors at the JMP Discovery Summit, which will be held at the beautiful Paradise Point Resort and Spa from 14 September to 17 September 2015. I’m especially

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Jim SimonAugust 27, 2015 0

Reading hierarchical data - Part 2

This post is the second in a series that illustrates three different solutions to "flattening" hierarchical data. Solution 1, from my previous post, created one observation per header record, summarizing the detail data with a COUNT variable, like this: Summary Approach: One observation per header record Obs Family Count

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Jim SimonAugust 25, 2015 0

Reading hierarchical data - Part 1

A family and its members represent a simple hierarchy. For example, the Jones family has four members: A text file might represent this hierarchy with family records followed by family members' records, like this: The PROC FORMAT step below defines the codes in Column 1: proc format; value $type

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Anuja NagpalAugust 24, 2015 0

Flexibility of SAS Enterprise Miner

Do you use an array of tools to perform predictive analytics on your data? Is your current tool not flexible enough to accommodate some of your requirements? SAS Enterprise Miner may be your solution. With growing number of data mining applications, having a tool which can do variety of analysis

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Maggie MillerAugust 10, 2015 0

Getting SAS certified one credential at a time

Krystian Matusz is what I’d call a super SAS user. He currently holds seven out of the nine credentials SAS offers. SAS Certified Advanced Programmer for SAS 9 SAS Certified Base Programmer for SAS 9 SAS Certified BI Content Developer for SAS 9 SAS Certified Clinical Trials Programmer Using SAS

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Rick WicklinAugust 10, 2015 0

Those tricky PERCENT formats

When using SAS to format a number as a percentage, there is a little trick that you need to remember: the width of the formatted value must include room for the decimal point, the percent sign, and the possibility of two parentheses that indicate negative values. The field width must

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Rick WicklinJuly 27, 2015 0

Convert a vector to a string

Base SAS contains many functions for processing strings, and you can call these functions from within a SAS/IML program. However, sometimes a SAS/IML programmer needs to process a vector of strings. No problem! You can call most Base SAS functions with a vector of parameters. I have previously written about

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Beverly BrownJuly 24, 2015 0

Saint Peter’s University introduces Master’s degree in data science and business analytics

In December, Saint Peter’s University grants Master’s degrees to its inaugural class of data scientists. 36 students are enrolled in this program, and eight are set to graduate. As reported this year by Bloomberg, career opportunities for analytics talent are excellent. Saint Peter’s is the latest to collaborate with SAS to offer such a program.

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Rick WicklinJuly 20, 2015 0

Create a density curve with shaded tails

A SAS programmer wanted to plot the normal distribution and highlight the area under curve that corresponds to the tails of the distribution. For example, the following plot shows the lower decile shaded in blue and the upper decile shaded in red. An easy way to do this in SAS

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