Question

Which DATA step creates Mth2Dte as an accumulating variable with an initial value of 0?

a.
data mnthtot;
set orion.aprsales;
retain Mnth2Date;
Mth2Dte=Mth2Dte+SaleAmt;
run;
b.
data mnthtot;
set orion.aprsales;
retain Mth2Dte 0;
Mth2Dte=Mth2Dte+SaleAmt;
run;

Answer 1

The correct SAS DATA step code to create 'Mth2Dte' as an accumulating variable with an initial value of 0 in SAS is option b. It uses the RETAIN statement to set the initial value and adds the SaleAmt to Mth2Dte for each record.

Step-by-step explanation:

The question pertains to creating an accumulating variable within a SAS DATA step. To create an accumulating variable called Mth2Dte with an initial value of 0 and then incrementally add the value of SaleAmt within each iteration of the DATA step, the correct code would be:

data mnthtot;
set orion.aprsales;
retain Mth2Dte 0;
Mth2Dte=Mth2Dte+SaleAmt;
run;

This step initializes Mth2Dte with a value of 0 using the RETAIN statement, and then adds the SaleAmt to Mth2Dte for each record processed. The RETAIN statement ensures that the value of Mth2Dte is retained across the processing of different rows in the dataset. The DATA step (option b) is the correct answer because it explicitly sets the initial value of Mth2Dte to 0, which is required to accumulate the sales amounts properly.