JMPer Cable is a technical publication for users of JMP® Software.

Cover Story: Slicing Solar Array Data

By Xan Gregg, JMP
SAS world headquarters in Cary, North Carolina – which is also home to JMP – has a 1-megawatt solar farm. This article analyzes and visualizes the energy production of the solar arrays at the farm from January through August 2009. Explore the SAS solar farm data yourself by downloading it from the JMP File Exchange. The data table has power output recorded every 15 minutes beginning January 1 for each of the two arrays at the solar farm. The table also includes data on ambient temperature, wind and irradiance.

Download the data set referenced in the article.

JMP Is 20 Years Old (p. 4)

By John Sall, JMP
A quest to produce personal-scale software that could run on a desktop, discover the unknown, and take advantage of point-and-click technology led to the development of JMP statistical discovery software 20 years ago. The goal was to launch this new visual discovery product during the third quarter of 1989. Twenty years and eight versions later, JMP celebrated its anniversary on “Sept. 35,” 2009 (Oct. 5 for those unconstrained by quarterly sales cycles). Read JMP creator John Sall’s reflections on this milestone.

The Buzz About JMP Discovery and Innovators’ Summit (p. 5)

By Arati Bechtel, JMP
The Discovery and Innovators’ Summit conferences generated quality coverage about JMP, SAS and the value of analytics. Journalists and bloggers featured John Sall, chief architect of JMP, and Malcolm Gladwell, best-selling author and the keynote speaker at both events. A number of outlets provided coverage, including Computerworld, the Chicago Tribune and data visualization expert Stephen Few’s noted blog.

Script Snippet (p. 5)

Have you wondered how to make a function that evaluates another function given later with a variable number of arguments? The script in this short article tells you how: You can construct the function by inserting arguments and then calling the constructed function.

Isn’t That Saying the Same Thing? (p. 6)

By José G. Ramírez, W.L. Gore & Associates, and Mark Bailey, SAS
“Is there a difference between them?” and “Are they the same?” seem like equal but opposite questions. A negative answer to one of these questions usually means an affirmative answer to the other. But that is not true for significance tests. Failing to show a statistically significant difference between things is not the same as showing that things are the same. This article tells you why.

Download the data set referenced in the article.

The New Heroes of Commerce? (p. 10)

By Chuck Pirrello, JMP
In his book Super Crunchers, Ian Ayres writes that businesses are beginning to understand the power of using statistics to support critical decisions. He explains that a new breed of statisticians, the Super Crunchers, has emerged. This group crunches massive databases, searching for trends and patterns in their organization’s data on everything from customer buying habits and profitability to waste in the value chain.

Quick Tip: Coloring Cell Plots (p. 10)

Customize the colors in a Cell Plot with dozens of categorical columns to avoid inconsistencies. Use the Scale Uniformity option for numerical variables. Follow the steps under Column Properties for category variables.

Instrument Measurement Linearity (p. 11)

By Tonya Mauldin, JMP
If you work with instruments that take measurements, dirty, damaged or improperly calibrated equipment can mean unreliable readings. A linearity study tracks the variation between measurements to a known standard throughout the expected operating range. Read how to conduct your own linearity study in JMP.

What About 3-D Pie Charts? (p. 13)

By Russ Wolfinger, JMP
Long ago banished to graph purgatory, the pie chart still refuses to go away. A blog post defending this lowly graph by SAS’ own Russ Wolfinger, who helped develop JMP Genomics, has drawn an impressive number of responses. Take a look – and maybe even post your own thoughts on the matter.

Download the data set referenced in the article.

Expression Handling Functions Part I (p. 15)

By Joseph Morgan, JMP
Many beginning and intermediate JMP Scripting Language (JSL) programmers have not realized the power of the abstraction available from JSL expressions. Such meta-programming constructs are particularly useful when the application being developed is complex. Read this article to learn how JSL handling functions can be used to solve nontrivial JSL programming challenges.

 

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