[R] Converting english words to numeric equivalents

[Barry Rowlingson]

2008/7/28 Rolf Turner <r.turner at auckland.ac.nz>:
>
> On 28/07/2008, at 12:32 PM, oscar Linares wrote:
>
>> Hello,
>>
>> I am trying to convert english words to numeric equivalents, e.g., abc to
>> 123. Is there a function or library or package for doing this in R? If not,
>> can it be done easily in R?
>
> Your question is very ill-posed.  What ``english word'' would correspond to
> 0?
> What would the ``english word'' xyz (?!?!) correspond to?
>
> If you can phrase a coherent question, it can probably be answered.

 if abc maps to 123, then xyz maps to 242,526. Or possibly 2,676.

 this reminds me of the 'analogy problems' in Metamagical Themas by
Douglas Hofstadter. Example, if abc goes to abd, what does pqrs go to?
pqrt or pqrd? pqtu? qrst? Or something else?

Barry