[R] Output from the multinom-function

[Hoodoo Gooroo]

Hello folks,

Let me first apologize: I'm not a professional nor a
mathematician, just an ordinary guy, fooling around
with the excellent R-package. I know the basic
principles behind statistics, but haven't read
anything more advanced than the ordinary first
probability and statistics courses.

Enough disclaimers? Good! I was examining the
multinom-function (in the nnet-package) the other day
and run a couple of tests. This is part of an output I
got.

multinom(formula = result ~., data = info)

Coefficients:
   (Intercept) PH          WH         
1  -0.3974387  0.02201908 -0.0009618038 
2   2.5183566 -0.07076967 -0.0596189836 

The variable result I was trying to predict is a
nominal variable, taking the values 0, 1 and 2. The
independent variables are quite a few, some of them
nominal, some not. I know about regression
coefficients, intercepts, and all that jazz. I'm not
sure, though, how I should use the coefficients and
intercepts I got in the output. Why are there two
different coefficients per variable? When should I use
which? How should I interpret the output of the
regression function? Should the output be rounded to
the nearest integer, which would happen to be <=0, 1
or >=2 -> I can decide which the prediction is? Or am
I missing some fine points in this particular field of
math I'm (admittedly somewhat blindfolded) messing
around in?

I'm grateful for any help, or any pointers to good
sources on the web. I don't have any problems with
reading theory - it's just that I don't have any
theory to read!

Thanks a lot in advance,

   Mike

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