Assignments for Lesson 1

1. Visit one of the stores that sells textbooks. For 10 or more textbooks, record the department abbreviation and course number (for example, STA 5106), the price of a new textbook, and whether the book is required, recommended, or optional. Create and print a SAS dataset with this information. Turn in printouts of the program, the log file, and the output.

2. Find some soft-drink dispensing machines on campus. Record the following information about 10 or more beverages: Name of beverage, type of container dispensed (can, bottle, juice box, paper cup), price, and whether that drink was sold out when you visited the machine. Use SAS to create and print a dataset with this information. Turn in printouts of the program, the log file, and the output.

3. Get a copy of a local newspaper or the campus newspaper and find the advertisements for apartment housing in the classified section. Make and print a SAS dataset with the following information about 10 or more apartments: Number or bedrooms (usually abbreviated BR in the ads), number of bathrooms (abbreviated BA), monthly rent in dollars, and the phone number to call for more information. Turn in printouts of the program, the log file, and the output.

4. For each of the following terms, tell whether that term could be accepted by SAS as a variable name. If not, describe why SAS could not accept it.

5. For each of the following terms, tell whether that term could be used as the name of a SAS dataset. If not, tell why SAS could not use it. 6. The following passage appears on page 70 of 1995-96 High School Basketball Rules (National Federation of State High School Associations, Kansas City, MO).
It has been reported that when using computers to keep statistics, etc., the numbers 0 and 00 are treated as a single number. The action of the committee simply decrees that beginning in (the year) 2000 a team's squad list shall not contain both Numbers 0 and 00. One of the two may be used, but not both. The solution for teams would be to purchase shirts with either one or the other, but not both numbers.
Suppose that a team has players with Numbers 0 and 00, and you want to keep track of the team's statistics using SAS. Write an example SAS program with fictional data to show one way in which the two players could be identified as 0 and 00, respectively.


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