The BC Try Computer System of Cluster And Factor Analysis

The structure and use of the BC TRY system in both variable and object analysis are described. The system of about 30 programs includes programs for data handling, intercorrelating data, communality estimation, factoring (cluster analysis, bifactor analysis, square root factoring, principal components, canonical factoring, alpha factoring, etc.), rotation, structure analysis, geo- metrical-graphical subsetting of factor spaces, factor and cluster scoring, factor comparison, typological analysis, general matrix algebra, etc. The integrity of the programs as a user-oriented system is demonstrated. A number of computing science contributions axe presented: access to a large system of pro- grams with flexible inter-change among the programs; symbolic storage and transmission of data; dynamic tape assignment; macro-instructions f o r within- system programming; complete documentation for dissemination. Procedures are implemented for installation of the system at computation centers (IBM 709-7090-7094) and for ...