A SAS/IML Macro for Computing Percentage Points of Pearson Distributions

Abstract

The Pearson distribution family provides approximations to a wide variety of observed distributions using the first four moments or the first three moments with a left or right boundary. Curve fitting utilizing Pearson distributions has been extensively applied in many fields. However, in practice, it is quite unwieldy to obtain percentage points of Pearson distributions when consulting the massive tables of Pearson and Hartley (1972) or using the out-of-date computer programs (Amos and Daniel 1971; Bouver and Bargmann 1974; Davis and Stephens 1983). The present study compiled a convenient computer program for computing the percentage points using the contemporary SAS/IML (SAS Institute Inc. 2008) macro language.