topic Re: How to manage fraction formats (not reduced)? in SAS Enterprise Guide

How to manage fraction formats (not reduced)?

HS2 — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 06:59:43 GMT

Hello,

I am working on a variable that needs to be presented in fraction format, not decimal.

I know there is an existing format=FRACT. However it presents the reduced fraction which I don’t want to.

I want the derived data (Z) to be as follow :

X 2 5

Y 4 25

Z 2/4 5/25 and NOT 1/2 1/5

Can you please advise on this, knowing that I need the fraction for numerical calculation, so I cannot consider the CATX function.

I am using SAS 9.4 - ANALYTIC PRO WX6.

Re: How to manage fraction formats (not reduced)?

Kurt_Bremser — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 08:11:55 GMT

The value created by the calculation 5/25 is 0.2, and that's all that SAS can see when the format is applied. It could be 1/5, 5/25, 20/100, or any combination from an infinite list, and there's no way to guess which one you want at the moment. SAS just defaults to the most simple one.

Re: How to manage fraction formats (not reduced)?

FreelanceReinh — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 09:13:47 GMT

Hello @HS2 and welcome to the SAS Support Communities!

I think the idea of using a format starts getting difficult when different pairs (X, Y) demand different labels (=formatted values) for the same numeric value of Z, e.g. (2, 4) and (3, 6).

My recommendation: Create a character variable, say ZC, in addition to the existing numeric variable Z and store the fractions (created from numerator and denominator using CATX as you've suggested) in ZC. Then you can perform calculations with Z and use ZC in your reports. Of course, it's your responsibility to make sure that the values of Z and ZC are consistent.

Re: How to manage fraction formats (not reduced)?

HS2 — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 09:31:04 GMT

OK, so there is options for such raw presentation of the data.

Thank you!