[Rd] factorial() not here (PR#1194)

maechler@stat.math.ethz.ch maechler@stat.math.ethz.ch
Wed, 5 Dec 2001 09:48:33 +0100 (MET)


>>>>> "rmh" == rmh  <rmh@surfer.sbm.temple.edu> writes:

    rmh> Version 1.3.1 (2001-08-31) factorial() is not in R.  It
    rmh> is in S-Plus with the definition

    rmh>          factorial <- function(n) gamma(n + 1)

well, and where's the bug ?  There are many more functions in S+
which are not in R.  factorial() is not a blue book or white
book function {of course!}; hence no direct reason to have it in R.
  Reversely, should we start sending bug reports to
S-news or Insightful for R functions not existing in S+ ? 

No, more seriously, are you really finding that factorial
is hard to use via gamma?  Very often it is really logarithms
one should work with anyway, hence lgamma().  Now we would also
`need' lfactorial() .....

Regards,
Martin


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