Statistical Programming Languages

Many computer programs specialize in performing statistical computations: SAS, R, SPSS, and Minitab among others.

The R statistical program is freely available as a download from the internet, and many statistical researchers make the R-code that computes new methods available on the web as an appendix to a paper or in freely available web site.

Since the SAS program is currently the most widely used in pharmaceutical companies and         financial institutions, I recommend that you learn it. SPSS is widely used among social scientists and market researchers. It is most used in an interactive analysis environment (researcher            requests analysis, and program computes results immediately). My experience is that its              interactive pull-down menu is vastly superior to that of SAS.

Minitab is widely used in teaching of statistics but is not often used in business. It has extremely good software. Matlab also has good software. The Excel spreadsheet program can perform       many statistical calculations and should become a strong competitor to SAS in the future. You   may need to obtain statistical functions from a download from Microsoft. It is not currently        competitive with the other statistical packages for multiple linear regression calculations. Some students using Python got incorrect results.

SINC sites Software Availability

SAS is only available through the Virtual SINC site. The software listed below can be downloaded through the university IT support web page:                                              https://it.stonybrook.edu/services/software-catalog/browse.

SAS - Virtual SINC site.

You can request a desktop version through university website, which is free from:

https://it.stonybrook.edu/forms/request-sas

SPSS – SPSS is available at SINC sites in the Chemistry 432 SINC Site, Chemistry 434 SINC    Site, Central Reading Room, Computer Science SINC Site, Engineering SINC Site, Harriman     Hall SINC Site, Humanities Lounge SINC Site, Life Sciences SINC Site, Melville Library SINC Site, North Reading Room, Social and Behavior Sciences SINC Site, Sports Complex SINC Site

Minitab – Minitab is available at SINC sites in the Chemistry 432 SINC Site, Chemistry 434 SINC Site, Central Reading Room, Computer Science SINC Site, Engineering SINC Site,

Harriman Hall SINC Site, Humanities Lounge SINC Site, Life Sciences SINC Site, Melville Library SINC Site, North Reading Room, Social and Behavior Sciences SINC Site, Sports   Complex SINC Site

R – R is available at SINC sites in the Chemistry 432 SINC Site, Chemistry 434 SINC Site,        Computer Science SINC Site, Engineering SINC Site, Harriman Hall SINC Site, Humanities      Lounge SINC Site, Life Sciences SINC Site, Melville Library - Central Reading Room, Melville Library - North Reading Room, Melville Library SINC Site, Social and Behavioral Sciences       SINC Site, Sports Complex SINC Site

Excel – Excel is available at SINC sites in the Chemistry 432 SINC Site, Chemistry 434 SINC Site, Computer Science SINC Site, Engineering SINC Site, Harriman Hall SINC Site,              Humanities Lounge SINC Site, Life Sciences SINC Site, Melville Library - Central Reading   Room, Melville Library - North Reading Room, Melville Library SINC Site, Social and          Behavioral Sciences SINC Site, Sports Complex SINC Site

Virtual SINC site

These programs can be accessed using Stony Brook's Virtual SINC site. To access the virtual     SINC site you must go to http://it.stonybrook.edu/services/virtual-sinc-site and log in using your NetID and password.

*Access for off-campus users: you first visit                                                                                  https://customerconnect.vmware.com/en/downloads/info/slug/desktop_end_user_computing/vm ware_horizon_clients/horizon_8 from off-campus to install the VMWare Horizon Client            software the first time you connect.

You can also use a lighter version if you have a browser and Internet. You should go to:           https://it.stonybrook.edu/services/virtual-sinc-site. Log in with your NetID to have access to all the software listed above. The university machine is fast.

Windows users must use Internet Explorer.

Visit https://it.stonybrook.edu/students for more instructions if you have trouble.

For more details about software available on a SINC Site, please refer to                                       https://it.stonybrook.edu/help/kb/software-available-in-sinc-sites-windows, where you could find all software you can use in the computers in the SINC site.