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Date:         Tue, 25 Jul 2006 10:51:20 -0500
Reply-To:     John Norton <jnorton@lumc.edu>
Sender:       "SPSSX(r) Discussion" <SPSSX-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         John Norton <jnorton@lumc.edu>
Subject:      Re: Finding the Lowest Value
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

Hi List,
 
Last week I requested help with locating the lowest value across several variables.  The heart of my solution below rests with comparing whether the value of measure(#i) = MIN(wbc1 TO wbc9).  I use a loop such that when that argument is true, I record the iteration (the week) to the target variable.  Placed within a macro, I can call the macro as many times as I have measurements.
 
DEFINE low_week (first = !CHAREND(';')/last = !CHAREND(':') /target = !CMDEND).
VECTOR measure = !first TO !last.
LOOP #i = 1 TO 9.
DO IF (measure(#i) = MIN(!first TO !last)).
!CONCAT('COMPUTE ',!target,' = #i.').
END IF.
END LOOP.
EXE.
!ENDDEFINE.
 
low_week first = WBC1; last = WBC9: target = wbc_lowest_week.
low_week first = gran1; last = gran9: target = gran_lowest_week.

My thanks to Gene Maguin for his suggested solutions from last week.
 
Best,
 
 
 
John Norton
Biostatistician
Oncology Institute
Loyola University Medical Center
 
(708) 327-3095
jnorton@lumc.edu
 
"Absence of evidence