[R] finding a faster way to do an iterative computation

[Rolf Turner]

On 30/07/2008, at 6:12 AM, dxc13 wrote:

>
> useR's,
>
> I am trying trying to find out if there is a faster way to do a  
> certain
> computation.  I have successfully used FOR loops and the apply  
> function to
> do this, but it can take some time to fully compute, but I was  
> wondering if
> anyone may know of a different function or way to do this:
>> x
> [1] 1 2 3 4 5
>> xk
>  [1] 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0 5.5 6.0
>
> I want to do: abs(x-xk[i]) where i = 1 to length(xk)=13.  It should  
> result
> in a 13 by 5 matrix or data frame.  Does anyone have a "quicker"  
> solution
> than FOR loops or apply()?

	outer(xk,x,function(a,b){abs(a-b)})

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