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NAG (General Package)

Numerical and Statistical components library.

Functionality Background Licence availability, restrictions &
links to distributor

NAG is essentially a software library of numerical
and mathermatical algorithms that can be called in from user-written programs. It contains some statistical functionality, but is much more a general purpose suite.

If a user wishes to write a special purpose program which contains and supports a specific statistical analysis then NAG would provide a route forward. But for general statistical analyses. The use of either a general purpose statistical package or writing a specific analysis in R or S-Plus would be a more usual approach.

NAG originally stood for Nottingham Algorithms Group and its history extends back into the late 1960s. It is now known as and marketed by the Numerical Algorithms Group.




Site licence covers use by staff and students on University and home machines. Further
information and download details: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services
/its/servicessupport/software/list/nag






General Purpose Packages which have some Statistical Functionality

These packages are not basically designed for statistical analysis, but all have some statistical functionality and some, being mathematical tools, pretty much allow you to write any statistical analysis from scratch. But we would generally advise using packages that were designed primarily for statistical analysis since their functionality will generally have been tested and verified for statistical purposes. If you write your own calculations in a mathematical calculation tool, you risk miscoding the statistical technique and drawing poor or completely wrong inferences.

Please share your experiences and examples of how you have used this software by leaving a comment below, to help others choose the right software for their research requirements.