An Introductory Graph :: SAS/IML(R) 13.1 User's Guide

An Introductory Graph

Suppose that you have data for ACME Corporation’s stock price and you want a simple PRICE $\times$ DAY graph to see the overall trend of the stock’s price. The data are as follows.

Day		Price
0		43.75
5		48.00
10		59.75
15		75.5
20		59.75
25		71.50
30		70.575
35		61.125
40		79.50
45		72.375
50		67.00
55		54.125
60		58.750
65		43.625
70		47.125
75		45.50

To graph a scatter plot of these points, enter the following statements. These statements generate Figure 16.1.

proc iml;                            /* invoke PROC IML   */
   call gstart;                      /* start graphics    */
   xbox={0 100 100 0};
   ybox={0 0 100 100};
   day=do(0,75,5);                   /* initialize day    */
   price={43.75,48,59.75,75.5,       /* initialize price  */
       59.75,71.5,70.575,
       61.125,79.5,72.375,67,
       54.125,58.75,43.625,
       47.125,45.50};
   call gopen;                       /* start new graph   */
   call gpoly(xbox,ybox);       /* draw a box around plot */
   call gpoint(day,price);           /* plot the points   */
   call gshow;                       /* display the graph */

Figure 16.1: Scatter plot

The GSTART statement initializes the graphics session. It is usually called only once. Next, open a graphics segment (that is, begin a new graph) with the GOPEN call. The GPOINT call draws the scatter plot of points of DAY versus PRICE. The GSHOW call displays the graph.

Notice also that, for this example, the $x$ coordinate of the data is DAY and that $0 \leq \mbox{DAY} \leq 100$ . The $y$ coordinate is PRICE, which ranges from $0 \leq \mbox{PRICE} \leq 100$ . The data are displayed properly because the default ranges are from 0 to 100 on both the $x$ and $y$ axes. A later example uses the GWINDOW statement to change the default ranges so that you can handle data with any range of values.

Of course, this graph is quite simple. By the end of this chapter, you will learn how to add axes and titles, scale axes, and connect the points with lines.