Decimal vs. Comma

The following does not apply to PASS 11 and NCSS 8 or later.

NCSS 2007, PASS 2008, and GESS 2006 were programmed in an English version of Windows. We have found that some non-English versions of Windows treat the decimal point differently in that they use the decimal comma rather than the decimal point. For example, in some non-English versions of Windows, 1,234 means 1 and 233 thousandths. In the English version, this would number is treated as 1234 (one-thousand two-hundred thirty four). Obviously, this inconsistency in dealing with the decimal point can cause strange results. We have made every effort to allow the decimal comma to be used. However, some anomalies can occur. We suggest that when you experience problems or strange results ("subscript out of range", "value of 0 is out of range", etc.) you set your Windows language option to English when using NCSS 2007, PASS 2008, or GESS 2006.

Changing the Windows Language Setting to English

To change your computer's Windows language setting to English, do the following:
  1. Choose Start then Control Panel then Regional and Language Options.
  2. Change the current language format to English (United States).
Some users have also reported problems with transformations (i.e. strange transformation results for some functions such as cum() and sequence()) even when the language setting is set to English. The problem stems from Windows non-Unicode program language setting. To solve this problem, do the following:
  1. Choose Start then Control Panel then Regional and Language Options.
  2. Click on the Advanced tab.
  3. Change the "Language for non-Unicode programs" to English (United States).

Your support is always amazing. I also run [another statistical software package] and on a support / admin basis you guys are way ahead.

Neale Penman, Researcher

NCSS is an excellent tool for clinical and epidemiological research that is both user friendly and economical with excellent support. It removes the "fear of statistics" from clinical research and makes research accessible to all curious clinicians.

Ted Rosenberg, MD MSc. FRCP(C), Clinical Assistant Professor, University of British Columbia