To create a printing base element, type:

To create a nonprinting base element, type:

In most tables, the first row and column contain totals. These are the total number of respondents eligible for inclusion in that row or column. The intersection of the base row and the base column is the table base; that is, the total number of respondents eligible for inclusion in the table as a whole.

‘Eligible for inclusion in the table’ is not the same as actually in the table. Bases are not totals and should not be confused with them. If everybody who is eligible for inclusion in the table is, in fact, included, the base and the total might be the same, but this is not always the case.

In a table of marital status by sex, the base is generally the total respondents in the table since everyone has an age and marital status. But, if you omitted the element for Males, the base is still the total number of respondents, even though the table contains only women.

The purpose of a base element is to define a set of figures against which figures in subsequent elements can be percentaged. With this in mind, look at the sample table below which has a base row and a base column. The base row has three cells, the last two showing the total numbers of men (44) and women (156) eligible for inclusion in the table. These are created by the combination of the conditions ‘everyone’ (from the base row) and ‘male’ and ‘female’ from the column axis. The base column shows the total number of single, married, divorced and widowed respondents eligible for inclusion in the table. The table shows that there are 10 divorced men. This represents 22.7% of all men in the table (10/44*100=22.7). This is a column percentage.

There are two statements which create a base: n10 and n11. They are formatted as follows:

For example, if you add a base element to the axis sex, you get:

Use n10 if the base is to be printed in the table, or n11 if it is not.

When a single table spans several pages, the last base row in the axis is printed on the continuation pages. However, you can stop it being printed by adding an n11 statement after the n10. Because the n11 is the last base in the axis, it will be repeated on the continuation page, but it will not be printed.