Yes, because a value in quotes is considered a character value so SAS converts it to a number before it can do math on the value.
@anming wrote:
data work.retail;
cost = (20000);
total = .10 * cost;
run;
to assign a value to cost, 20000 or (20000) both work. "20000" or '20000' also work but a log note shows that a char is changed to a numeric value.