On 22 Aug 2001 15:13:19 -0700, paszty@xoma.com (Nick Paszty) wrote:

>hello. > >i extracted a 6.12 unix data set from an xpt file onto our vms system >using 6.12. when i run proc compare between our source data and the >extracted data, i get very small differences like 8.184e-16.

Your particular transfer is uses three separate floating point formats: ieee, ibm, and vax. It is no doubt the worst case. Even so, I doubt that the differences you have found have any _substantive_ significance.

Rather than running proc compare, why not run proc means on the input and output datasets and look at the differences in means. My guess is that you are not measuring anything with enough precision to worry about differences on the order of 8e-16,

Best,

Steve ---------------------------------------------------------------- Steven Dubnoff sdubnoff@circlesys.com Circle Systems We make your data instantly usable. Download Stat/Transfer from http://www.stattransfer.com 1001 Fourth Avenue, #3200 (206) 682-3783 Seattle, WA 98154 Fax (206) 328-4788