Appendix A. A Brief Introduction to the IML Procedure

Sometimes we may need to do certain data analyses which are not readily provided by any of the SAS procedures. The IML procedure is a very helpful matrix language within SAS for such situations. One can conveniently perform many of the matrix calculations by using simple statements and by calling various subroutines and functions within PROC IML.

We will briefly describe here a few of these choices which are likely to be encountered in various multivariate analyses and other related matrix manipulations. For further details on other relatively more complex manipulations, the user is referred to SAS/IML Software: Usage and Reference, Version 6, First Edition.