[R] Inconsistent linear model calculations

[Gavin Simpson]

On Thu, 2008-05-15 at 14:50 +0100, e-letter wrote:
> 2008/5/15 Douglas Bates <bates at stat.wisc.edu>:
> > Did you happen to notice the part at the bottom of every message about
> > "provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code"?
> >
> Sorry, don't understand what that statement means in my context.
> 
> > Considering that the result you quote from "251" has 2 coefficients
> > and the result from "171" has 3 coefficients one might contemplate the
> > possibility that you are fitting different models or perhaps using
> > different data.  However we can't verify anything about the causes
> > because we have no data regarding the problem.
> 
> data below:
> 
>   y    a    b    c    d   e     f
> 1  300 39.87 39.85 39.90 39.87333  90000
> 2  400 45.16 45.23 45.17 45.18667 160000
> 3  500 50.72 51.03 50.90 50.88333 250000
> 4  600 56.85 56.80 57.02 56.89000 360000
> 5  700 63.01 63.09 63.14 63.08000 490000
> 6  800 69.52 59.68 69.63 66.27667 640000
> 
> so substitute a in my generic equation below for data column e (e.g.
> 39.87...) and b for f (e.g. 9e4).
> 
> >
> > Perhaps you are Brian Ripley's evil twin trying to provoke him.  I
> > would say that references to a nonexistent version "171" are
> > deliberately provocative.
> 
> No idea and couldn't care less who br is:
> 
> R : Copyright 2003, The R Development Core Team
> Version 1.7.1  (2003-06-16)
> 
> Get your facts correct before spouting further rubbish.

I'm sorry "e-letter", but that is just not an acceptable attitude for
this list.

I could explain Doug's BR comment (it was just a little bit of fun), but
I guess from your answer you haven't been on the list for very long -
and you might come to regret caring less who BR is - the assistance he
has given me and countless other UseR's other the years has been
invaluable.

I'm amazed people still bothered to help you after this response - just
goes to show that most people on this list are incredibly helpful and
are doing their bit to help people use a wonderful piece of software;
furthering the cause.

There really isn't an R version 171 or even 251; the printed output from
the R session *you* quote shows that.

Glad you got your problem sorted in the end.

G

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