topic Re: Working with greater than equal to operator in sas in SAS Programming

Working with greater than equal to operator in sas

PW1 — Fri, 10 Jul 2020 10:31:21 GMT

Hi,

While I ran below code, getting value of variable TAG1 as "unchecked" , eventhough values are getting same for TAG and TAG2. Value for TAG1 is not getting correct according to if condition.

Any idea why is happening so?

Data readin2;
a=6882;
b=9176;
c=68.82;
d=91.76;
format TAG TAG2 12.8;
TAG=a/b;
TAG2=c/d;
length TAG1 $20;
IF TAG = TAG2 THEN TAG1 = "New";
ELSE TAG1 ="Unchecked";
run;

Re: Working with greater than equal to operator in sas

andreas_lds — Fri, 10 Jul 2020 10:40:00 GMT

Have you seen https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Programming/int-function-odd-behavior/m-p/667961 ?

Re: Working with greater than equal to operator in sas

s_lassen — Fri, 10 Jul 2020 10:40:18 GMT

The problem is that SAS numbers are stored as base 2 floating points, meaning that the decimals cannot be represented exactly. This means that the may be a minuscule difference between the calculation with the integers and the decimal values.

Try something like:

Data readin2;
a=6882;
b=9176;
c=68.82;
d=91.76;
format TAG TAG2 12.8;
TAG=a/b;
TAG2=c/d;
length TAG1 $20;
IF abs(TAG-TAG2)<1e-10 THEN TAG1 = "New";
ELSE TAG1 ="Unchecked";
run;

Re: Working with greater than equal to operator in sas

smantha — Fri, 10 Jul 2020 10:40:19 GMT

Eventhough mathematically they are the same how sas is handling the precision might be different. Round both values to a fixed decimal say six positions and then compare. Format statement is display only. It does not change the original value. Use round function instead

Re: Working with greater than equal to operator in sas

Kurt_Bremser — Fri, 10 Jul 2020 11:33:08 GMT

Add this to your code, and you'll get a clue:

diff = tag - tag2;