topic Re: How to use POWER/POW function in SAS Programming

How to use POWER/POW function

Lav001 — Fri, 05 Mar 2021 22:09:46 GMT

Hi,

When I tried to use power function in SAS EG 7.1 Version with below code, it is throwing below error:

Also, tried to use with CAPS/NOCAPS system option https://support.sas.com/kb/62/620.html

data test:
y=power(2,2);
z=power(2,2);
run;

error 68-185 the function power is unknown or cannot be accessed

Could you suggest on resolving above error.

Thanks

Re: How to use POWER/POW function

ballardw — Fri, 05 Mar 2021 22:27:53 GMT

What is the "power" function supposed to do? It sounds like you are trying to use the syntax from a different programming language.

The error is pretty clear: SAS does not supply a function named power.

If someone in your organization has written such using Proc Fcmp then it has not been set up for you to use.

Re: How to use POWER/POW function

Lav001 — Fri, 05 Mar 2021 22:43:59 GMT

I m trying to calculate below value, I thought Power can be sued.

Is there any other way to calculate below value?

(Age)^0.02

Re: How to use POWER/POW function

ballardw — Fri, 05 Mar 2021 23:06:21 GMT

In SAS you would use the ** (yes 2 asterisks) .

3**2 is 9

3**0.5 would be the square root of 3 though there is a SQRT function specifically.

The ^ character is a logical "not" operator. I suspect you tried 2^2 and got a message like:

263  data junk;
264     x = 3 ^2;
               -
               22
               76
ERROR 22-322: Syntax error, expecting one of the following: <, <=, =, >, >=, EQ, GE, GT, LE, LT,
              NE, NG, NL, ^=, ~=.

ERROR 76-322: Syntax error, statement will be ignored.

265  run;

Left as an exercise for the interested reader why

x = ^2;

does not throw an error. Hint: use different values like 0, 1, 2 and 3 and check the results.

Remember SAS only has two variable types, numeric and character and that might help.