[R] MASS fitdistr()

[Prof Brian Ripley]

On Thu, 27 Nov 2003, Oscar Linares wrote:

> Dear R experts,
> 
> I am trying to use the R MASS library fitdistr() to fit the following
> list:

Well, that is not a list!

> k21stsList<-c(0.76697,0.57642,0.75938,0.82616,0.93706,0.77377,0.58923,0.37157,0.60796,1.00070,0.97529,0.62858,0.63504,0.68697,0.61714,0.75227,1.16390,0.66702,0.83578)
> 
> as follows,
> 
> library(MASS)
> fitdistr(k21stsList, "normal")
> 
> But, I get
> 
> Error in fitdistr(k21stsList, "normal") : 'start' must be a named list

You omitted the `start' argument, and "normal" is not in the list 
specified in the Details section.

> What am I doing wrong (probably alot!)

It always helps to read through the whole help page rather than guessing.

Given that the MLEs for a normal are known explicitly, why are you doing 
this?

-- 
Brian D. Ripley,                  ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk
Professor of Applied Statistics,  http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/
University of Oxford,             Tel:  +44 1865 272861 (self)
1 South Parks Road,                     +44 1865 272866 (PA)
Oxford OX1 3TG, UK                Fax:  +44 1865 272595