Step-by-Step Programming with Base SAS 9.4, Second Edition, 2nd Edition

• Part 1, “Introduction to the SAS System”

• Part 2, “Getting Your Data into Shape”

• Chapter 7, “Understanding DATA Step Processing,” on page 107

About Numeric Variables in SAS

A numeric variable is a variable whose values are numbers.

Note: SAS uses double-precision floating-point representation for calculations and, by

default, for storing numeric variables in SAS data sets.

SAS accepts numbers in many forms, such as scientific notation, and hexadecimal. For

more information, see the discussion on the types of numbers that SAS can read from

data lines in SAS Language Reference: Concepts. For simplicity, this documentation

concentrates on numbers in standard representation, as shown here:

1254

336.05

-243

You can use SAS to perform all types of mathematical operations. To perform a

calculation in a DATA step, you can write an assignment statement in which the

expression contains arithmetic operators, SAS functions, or a combination of the two. To

compare numeric variables, you can write an IF-THEN/ELSE statement using logical

operators. For more information about numeric functions, see the discussion in the

“Functions and CALL Routines” section in SAS Functions and CALL Routines:

Reference.

Input SAS Data Set for Examples

Tradewinds Travel Inc. has an external file that contains information about their most

popular tours:

1 2 3 4 5

-----------------------------------

Japan 8 982 1020 Express

Greece 12 . 748 Express

New Zealand 16 1368 1539 Southsea

Ireland 7 787 628 Express

Venezuela 9 426 505 Mundial

Italy 8 852 598 Express

Russia 14 1106 1024 A-B-C

Switzerland 9 816 834 Tour2000

Australia 12 1299 1169 Southsea

Brazil 8 682 610 Almeida

The numbered fields represent

1

the name of the country toured

2

the number of nights on the tour

3

the airfare in US dollars

118 Chapter 8 • Working with Numeric Variables