A colleague recently asked “why should the average get closer to the mean when we increase the sample size?” We should interpret this question as asking why the standard error of the mean gets smaller as n increases. The central limit theorem shows t…
Uncovering the hidden parts of the SAS log
Before there was CNN or FOX News, people used to get their news from SAS. At least, that’s how I imagine that people kept themselves informed. What else can explain the existence of the NEWS= system option, which helps SAS admins to surface the must-know information to the SAS community? […]
Do You Read? (And Write?)
Whilst New Year’s resolutions are still in our minds, I’m thinking about my training plans for 2012. One key element of my plan is attendance of SAS Global Forum in April, but at the other end of the scale is my choice of professional reading material …
SAS Management Console 9.3 Password Indication
You’ve probably encountered this issue too. As an administrator you just want to know whether someone has stored a password in metadata or not. You don’t want to know the actual password, just whether there’s one there or not, because…
SAS OLAP Cubes: Using PROC SQL and MDX to Query OLAP Cubes
SAS PROC SQL has a lot of neat ways you can extract and manipulate data. In my experience, SAS users typically write PROC SQL to query SAS datasets or relational tables in databases. You can also…
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SAS Info Map: Change Source Table Names from Klingonese to English
I love the way some data tables get named. After a while you begin to learn the patterns – but geez sometimes I think a true alien was involved. The names are cryptic and when the tables are…
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