[R] help with as.numeric

[deanj2k]

hi everyone, wondering if you could help me with a novice problem.  I have a
data frame called subjects with a height and weight variable and want to
calculate a bmi variable from the two.  i have tried:

attach(subjects)
bmi <- (weight)/((height/100)^2)

but it comes up with the error:
Warning messages:
1: In Ops.factor(height, 100) : / not meaningful for factors
2: In Ops.factor((weight), ((height/100)^2)) :
  / not meaningful for factors

I presume that this means the vectors height and weight are not in numeric
form (confirmed by is.numeric) so i changed the code to:

bmi <- (as.numeric(weight))/((as.numeric(height)/100)^2)

but this just comes up with a result which doesnt make sense i.e. numbers
such as 40000 within bmi vector.  Ive looked at
as.numeric(height)/as.numeric(weight) and these numbers just arnt the same
as height/weight which is the reason for the incorrect bmi.  Cant anyone
tell me where I am going wrong?  Its quiet frustrating because I cant
understand why a function claiming to convert to numeric would come up with
such a bizarre result.
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