Is SAS an acronym that stands for Statistical Analysis System or it's never an acronym?

sas acronym
Ivy Lee picture Ivy Lee · Sep 7, 2012 · Viewed 7.5k times · Source

I understand this is not a programming question.

I'm taking two courses with applications in SAS this semester, and I found out there was contradiction in each professor's interpretation of the name SAS. One of them said SAS does not stand for anything, the other said it's Statistical Analysis System which is also on Wikipedia page of SAS. Though it does not matter much, it would satisfy my curiosity to know the answer.

Answer

BellevueBob picture BellevueBob · Sep 7, 2012

For the software company and solutions provided by SAS Institute, Inc., SAS is not an acronym. It is a registered trademark for the company and has officially been referred to simply as SAS since 1976. The original software was known as the "Statistical Analysis System" and many people continue to refer to it this way. However, SAS is much more than just statistics software.

And FYI: there are several hundred different meanings for "SAS" as an acronym, from "San Antonio Shoe" to the UK's "Special Air Service".

EDIT: Here is a link to a one hour video recording of a presentation made by one of the original founders of SAS, Tony Barr. It's as much a history of computing as just for SAS.

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