topic Re: Error while initializing matrix using the j function in SAS/IML Software and Matrix Computations

Error while initializing matrix using the j function

KGeorge — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 02:26:13 GMT

I would like to initialize a matrix using the j function thus A=j(20000,20000) but I get the following error:

ERROR: (execution) Unable to allocate sufficient memory. At least 2147483647 more bytes required.

I have 4GB RAM on a PC running Windows 7, I tried it in SAS 9,2 and 9,3 to no avail. How can I initialize vector A for large values of the rows and columns? How far does IML go in this regard?

Many thanks in advance,

George

Re: Error while initializing matrix using the j function

Rick_SAS — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 09:36:22 GMT

A 20000 x 20000 matrix has 4x10^8 elements. Each element is a double, which requires 8 bytes, for a total of roughly 3.2GB. The current version of SAS/IML software supports matrices up to 2BG of addressable space. For 32-bit operating systems, this is the maximum size of memory that the OS allows you to allocate in a single chunk.

Re: Error while initializing matrix using the j function

KGeorge — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 18:12:30 GMT

Thanks for the information, Rick.

Re: Error while initializing matrix using the j function

FFR — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 12:29:34 GMT

Will there be a future release of IML which is able to adress more than 2GB? I have tons of RAM and cant use it to handle huge matrices with SAS:-(

Re: Error while initializing matrix using the j function

Rick_SAS — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 13:09:55 GMT

I can't comment on future releases, but SAS developers are aware that customers would like to use 64-bit operating systems to address more RAM.

Re: Error while initializing matrix using the j function

Hutch_sas — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 13:14:53 GMT

We are working to overcome this memory limitation on 64-bit windows within the next few releases. 64-bit linux or unix hosts do not have this limitation.