Chapter 5
Computing Variables
IN THIS CHAPTER
Calculating new variables
Computing with more complex variables
Working with system variables
Working with string variables
Using multiple functions
The Compute Variable dialog is one of the most frequently used dialogs in SPSS because it contains dozens of functions as well as numerous arithmetic and logical operators that perform all kinds of calculations. This dialog is where you go to make new variables out of existing ones.
In this chapter, we focus on the variety of functions available in the Compute Variable dialog. We won’t discuss them all, but we do provide examples of several of the most useful ones.
SPSS divides functions into function groups. Here’s just a sampling of the kinds of functions you’ll find:
- Arithmetic functions
- Statistical functions
- String functions
- String and numeric conversion functions
- Date and time functions
- Random variable and distribution functions
- Missing value functions
- Logical functions
When you click ...
Get SPSS Statistics Workbook For Dummies now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
