Data Visualization | Programming Tips

Robert AllisonMarch 5, 2018 0

Converting your old SAS jobs to use the new GfK maps

Do you procrastinate and find excuses to delay doing certain things, even when you know they really ought to be done? And you probably realize that starting those projects is usually the hardest part, eh? Well, I finally started converting hundreds of my SAS examples to use the new GfK maps,

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Government

Analytics | Programming Tips

Rick WicklinMarch 5, 2018 0

The probability of a saddle point in a matrix

Many people know that a surface can contain a saddle point, but did you know that you can define the saddle point of a matrix? Saddle points in matrices are somewhat rare, which means that if you choose a random matrix you are unlikely to choose one that has a

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Data Visualization | Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Sanjay MatangeMarch 2, 2018 0

Series plot with varying attributes

This article is motivated by a recent question on the SAS Communities board.  This user wants to create a series or spline plot where the attributes of the line (color, thickness) can be changed based on another variable. In this case it may be a binary variable with "0" and

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Health Care

Data Visualization | Programming Tips

Lavanya MandavilliMarch 2, 2018 0

Is it sensitive? Mask it with data suppression

Report data shared by educational institutions, government agencies, healthcare organizations, and human resource departments can contain sensitive or confidential data. Data in such reports are suppressed selectively to protect the identities of individuals or to prevent the report’s audience from easily inferring individual values. The Data Suppression feature in SAS

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Analytics | Programming Tips

Rick WicklinFebruary 28, 2018 0

Solve a system of nonlinear equations with SAS

This article shows how to use SAS to solve a system of nonlinear equations. When there are n unknowns and n equations, this problem is equivalent to finding a multivariate root of a vector-valued function F(x) = 0 because you can always write the system as f1(x1, x2, ..., xn)

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Data Visualization | Programming Tips

Warren F. KuhfeldFebruary 27, 2018 0

Getting started with SGPLOT - Part 11 - Penalized B-Spline Plot

You can use penalized B-splines display a smooth curve through a set of data. The PBSPLINE statement fits spline models, displays the fit function(s), and optionally displays the data values.

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Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Rick WicklinFebruary 26, 2018 0

How to use FIRST.variable and LAST.variable in a BY-group analysis in SAS

My article about the difference between CLASS variables and BY variables in SAS focused on SAS analytical procedures. However, the BY statement is also useful in the SAS DATA step where it is used to merge data sets and to analyze data at the group level. When you use the

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Data Visualization | Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Sanjay MatangeFebruary 25, 2018 0

HBar with Data Labels

A common request on the communities page is to place data labels on horizontal bar charts.  Often users want to display stacked horizontal bar charts, with the values displayed for each segment and the overall value of the bar itself as shown in the example below. In this example, the

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Data Visualization | Programming Tips

Warren F. KuhfeldFebruary 21, 2018 0

Getting started with SGPLOT - Part 10 - Regression Plot

The REG statement fits linear regression models, displays the fit functions, and optionally displays the data values. You can fit a line or a polynomial curve. You can fit a single function or when you have a group variable, fit multiple functions.

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Analytics | Data Visualization | Programming Tips

Robert AllisonFebruary 20, 2018 0

Examining 200k+ Russian troll tweets

Unless you live under a rock, you've probably seen news reports that Russian trolls have been posting on social media to allegedly conduct "what they called information warfare against the United States, with the stated goal of spreading distrust toward the candidates and the political system in general," according to

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Communications | Government

Data Visualization | Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Sanjay MatangeFebruary 19, 2018 0

Survival plot with a twist using SGPLOT procedure

Survival plots are automatically created by the LIFETEST procedure.  These graphs are most often customized to fit the needs of SAS users.  One way to create the customized survival plot is to save the generated data from the LIFETEST procedure, and then use the SGPLOT procedure to create your custom

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Communications | Health Care | Insurance | Life Sciences

Analytics | Programming Tips

Rick WicklinFebruary 19, 2018 0

Compute the quantiles of any distribution

Your statistical software probably provides a function that computes quantiles of common probability distributions such as the normal, exponential, and beta distributions. Because there are infinitely many probability distributions, you might encounter a distribution for which a built-in quantile function is not implemented. No problem! This article shows how to

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Programming Tips

Jane EslingerFebruary 16, 2018 0

Efficiency at your fingertips: Keyboard macros and function keys

It is not laziness—it is efficiency!!! Programmers are often called lazy; we even call ourselves lazy. But we are not lazy, we are just being efficient. It makes no sense to type the same code over and over again or use more keystrokes than are absolutely necessary. Keyboard Macros You

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Data Visualization | Programming Tips | SAS Events

Robert AllisonFebruary 14, 2018 0

Building a SAS Global Forum infographic

You might have seen a SAS Global Forum infographic floating around the web. And maybe you  wondered how you might create something similar using SAS software? If so, then this blog's for you - I have created my own version of the infographic using SAS/Graph, and I'll show you how

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Data Visualization | Programming Tips | SAS Administrators

Bobbie WagonerFebruary 7, 2018 0

Creating a custom regional map in SAS Visual Analytics 7.4

By default, SAS Visual Analytics 7.4 supports country and state level polygons for regional geomaps. In SAS Visual Analytics 7.4, custom shape files are now supported, as well. This means that if a site has their own custom polygon data that defines custom regions, it’s possible to create a region

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English

Data Visualization | Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Sanjay MatangeFebruary 5, 2018 0

Dual Response Axis Bar and Line Overlay - Part 1

A dual response axis chart is useful when the data type for the multiple measures are not compatible.  For example, when overlaying measures like "This Year" sales with "Last Year" sales, the format and magnitudes of the two measures (or values for two groups) may be compatible, and it is

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Programming Tips

Rick WicklinFebruary 5, 2018 0

Simulate the birthday-matching problem

This article simulates the birthday-matching problem in SAS. The birthday-matching problem (also called the birthday problem or birthday paradox) answers the following question: "if there are N people in a room, what is the probability that at least two people share a birthday?" The birthday problem is famous because the

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Analytics | Data Visualization | Programming Tips

Robert AllisonFebruary 2, 2018 0

Can felons vote in your state?

Can felons vote? This seemed like a simple question, but I realized that I wasn't 100% sure of the answer. Therefore I looked into the data ... and apparently "it depends". Follow along and see how I created a map to help answer this question. But before we take the

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Government

Analytics | Data for Good | Data Visualization | Programming Tips

Robert AllisonJanuary 30, 2018 0

Building a better flu map!

The flu seems to be especially potent this year. "How potent is it," you might ask? ... Well, let's plot some data on a map to help find out! Here in the US, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) compiles data about diseases, and provides reports and graphs

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Health Care

Analytics | Data for Good | Data Visualization | Programming Tips

Robert AllisonJanuary 29, 2018 0

A better way to view flu data

Have you, or someone you know, gotten the flu this year? Word on the street is that this year's flu might be particularly bad, and the data seem to be corroborating that so far. You don't want to take my word for it? -- well then, let's have a look

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Health Care

Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Rick WicklinJanuary 29, 2018 0

How to use the new random-number generators in SAS

What is a random number generator? What are the random-number generators in SAS, and how can you use them to generate random numbers from probability distributions? In SAS 9.4M5, you can use the STREAMINIT function to select from eight random-number generators (RNGs), including five new RNGs. After choosing an RNG,

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Data Visualization | Programming Tips

Daria RostovtsevaJanuary 26, 2018 0

How to create custom regional maps in SAS Visual Analytics 8.2

Are you interested in using SAS Visual Analytics 8.2 to visualize a state by regions, but all you have is a county shapefile?  As long as you can cross-walk counties to regions, this is easier to do than you might think. Here are the steps involved: Step 1 Obtain a

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Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Leonid BatkhanJanuary 25, 2018 0

Let SAS write batch scripts for you

If Necessity is the mother of Invention, then, perhaps, the father of Automation is Laziness. Automation is all about convenience, comfort, and productivity. Why do it yourself if you can devise something to do it for you! In my previous post Running SAS programs in batch under Unix/Linux, we learned

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Analytics | Data Visualization | Programming Tips

Robert AllisonJanuary 25, 2018 0

North Korea's 117 missile tests

Data doesn't always have to be 'big data' to be interesting. For example, I recently ran across a small, but very interesting, database containing all of North Korea's missile tests. The data was a bit difficult to digest in the formats provided, therefore I decided to try my hand at

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English

Advanced Analytics | Programming Tips

Patricia NeriJanuary 24, 2018 0

Solving Sudoku puzzles using Constraint Programming in SAS Optimization

Most people who work with optimization are familiar with Linear and Integer Programming, to their toolkit they could add Constraint Programming. Constraint Programming is a powerful technique that is used to solve powerful “real-world” problems in a variety of areas, such as, planning, scheduling, DNA Sequencing, computer graphics and natural

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Advanced Analytics | Programming Tips

Phil WeissJanuary 24, 2018 0

Getting your SAS 9 code to run multi-threaded in SAS Viya 3.3

This article and accompanying technical white paper are written to help SAS 9 users process existing SAS 9 code multi-threaded in SAS Viya 3.3. Read the full paper, Getting Your SAS 9 Code to Run Multi-Threaded in SAS Viya 3.3. The Future is Multi-threaded Processing Using SAS® Viya® When I first began

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Programming Tips

Rick WicklinJanuary 24, 2018 0

Use lists to pass parameters to SAS/IML functions

A popular way to use lists in the SAS/IML language is to pack together several related matrices into a single data structure that can be passed to a function. Imagine that you have written an algorithm that requires a dozen different parameters. Historically, you would have to pass those parameters

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Programming Tips

Chris HemedingerJanuary 23, 2018 0

How to test PROC HTTP and the JSON library engine

Using SAS with REST APIs is fun and rewarding, but it's also complicated. When you're dealing with web services, credentials, data parsing and security, there are a lot of things that can go wrong. It's useful to have a simple program that verifies that the "basic plumbing" is working before

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Programming Tips

Chris HemedingerJanuary 22, 2018 0

A Valentine challenge: express your <3 with SAS

Is it time to add SAS to the list of "romance" languages?*. It's no secret that there are enthusiastic SAS programmers who love the SAS language. So it only makes sense that sometimes, these programmers will "nerd out" and express their adoration for fellow humans by using the code that

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Analytics | Data Visualization | Programming Tips

Robert AllisonJanuary 22, 2018 0

Here are the Amazon HQ2 finalists!

Amazon recently announced the 20 finalists in their search for a location to house their new 2nd headquarters (nicknamed 'hq2'). They showed a map on their web page, but I wanted to create my own map, with a few improvements ... Here's their official map. It's not terrible, but it

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Retail