I. Text Summary To go to the page where a task, programming feature, or concept was presented, select a link. Purpose of PROC MEANS The MEANS procedure provides an easy way to compute descriptive statistics. These data summarization tools can answer basic questions about numeric variables. Specifying Statistics By default, PROC MEANS computes the n-count (number of non-missing values), mean, standard deviation, minimum, and maximum for variables. To specify statistics, list their keywords in the PROC MEANS statement.

Descriptive Statistics

CLM Two-sided confidence limit for the mean  CSS Corrected sum of squares  CV Coefficient of variation  KURTOSIS Kurtosis  LCLM One-sided confidence limit below the mean  MAX Maximum value  MEAN Average  MIN Minimun value  N Number of observations with nonmissing values  NMISS Number of observations with missing values  RANGE Range  SKEWNESS Skewness  STDDEV / STD  Standard Deviation  STDERR Standard error of the mean  SUM Sum  SUMWGT Sum of the Weight variable values.  UCLM One-sided confidence limit above the mean  USS Uncorrected sum of squares  VAR Variance

Quantile Statistics

MEDIAN / P50  Median or 50th percentile  P1 1st percentile  P5 5th percentile  P10 10th percentile  Q1 / P25 Lower quartile or 25th percentile  Q3 / P75 Upper quartile or 75th percentile  P90 90th percentile  P95 95th percentile  P99 99th percentile  QRANGE Difference between upper and lower quartiles: Q3-Q1

Hypothesis Testing

PROBT  Probability of a greater absolute value for the t value  T Student's t for testing the hypothesis that the population mean is 0

Limiting Decimal Places Because PROC MEANS normally uses the BEST. format, procedure output can contain unnecessary decimal places. To limit decimal places, use the MAXDEC= option and set it equal to the length you prefer. Specifying Variables By default, PROC MEANS computes statistics for all numeric variables. To specify the variables to include in MEANS output, list them in a VAR statement. CLASS Group Processing Include a CLASS statement, specifying variable names, to group PROC MEANS output by variable values. Statistics for the CLASS variables will not be computed. BY Group Processing Include a BY statement, specifying variable names, to group PROC MEANS output by variable values. Your data must be sorted according to those variables; statistics for the BY variables will not be computed.

II. Syntax To go to the page where a statement or option was presented, select a link. PROC MEANS <DATA=SAS-data-set> <statistic-keyword(s)> <option(s)> <VAR variable(s)>; <CLASS variable(s)>; <BY variable(s)>; RUN;

III. Sample Programs proc means data=clinic.heart min max maxdec=1; var arterial heart cardiac urinary; class survive sex; run; proc sort data=clinic.heart out=work.hartsort; by survive sex; run; proc means data=work.hartsort maxdec=1; var arterial heart cardiac urinary; by survive sex; run;

IV. Points to Remember Use a VAR statement to limit output to relevant variables. Exclude statistics for such nominal variables as ID or ProductCode. By default, PROC MEANS prints the full width of each numeric variable. Use the MAXDEC= option to limit decimal places and improve legibility. Data must be sorted for BY group processing. You may need to run PROC SORT before using PROC MEANS with a BY statement.