not commenting on the metaphysical nature of your question....
If you don't like creating the views expressly, you could it via inline views...just a bit harder to follow. Also not sure what you want to happen if there is a tie.
data work.ddates;
input id death_date:date9.;
format death_date date9.;
cards;
1 24MAR2001
1 24MAR2001
1 25MAR2001
2 01MAY2002
2 01MAY2002
2 01MAY2002
2 29APR2002
;
proc sql;
create view work.vDeadCounts as
select
id,
death_date,
count(*) as Times_Dead
from work.ddates
group by id, death_date
;
create view work.vMaxCounts as
select id, max(Times_Dead) as Max_Times_Dead
from work.vDeadcounts group by id;
select distinct
t1.*
from
work.vDeadCounts t1
inner join work.vMaxCounts t2
on t1.id=t2.id and t1.Times_Dead=t2.Max_Times_Dead;
quit;
... View more
