What occurs when the SAS SUM statement ignores missing values?

The correct choice is that the SAS SUM statement continues adding non-missing values to the total. In SAS, the SUM statement is designed to handle missing values in a specific way. When it encounters a missing value while calculating the sum, it simply ignores that value and proceeds to add any subsequent non-missing values to the total. This behavior allows for an accurate summation of the available data without being distorted by missing values.

This feature is particularly useful because it ensures that calculations remain robust even when data is incomplete. The SUM statement effectively simplifies handling missing data, making it easier for programmers to compute sums without needing to add additional checks for missing values. Thus, the SUM statement enhances the efficiency of data analysis by automatically managing these cases, ensuring that the computation is based solely on the valid entries present in the dataset.