[R] weird "vector size cannot be NA/NaN" problem

[Peter Ehlers]

Good spot Bill,

and the error message comes from tabulate().

Peter Ehlers

William Dunlap wrote:
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: r-help-bounces at r-project.org 
>> [mailto:r-help-bounces at r-project.org] On Behalf Of Peter Ehlers
>> Sent: Monday, September 21, 2009 9:29 AM
>> To: Werner Wernersen
>> Cc: r-help at stat.math.ethz.ch
>> Subject: Re: [R] weird "vector size cannot be NA/NaN" problem
>>
>> Werner,
>>
>> Thanks for sending the data.
>>
>> The problem does seem to lie with describe() in pkg:Hmisc.
>> Frank may want to know that it can be triggered by
>>
>>   f <- function(n)describe(c(1:n,1/0))
>>   f(18) #ok
>>   f(19) #triggers the error
>>
>> Perhaps it's related to the "at least 20 unique values" condition
>> mentioned in ?describe.
> 
> The call to range() in describe.vector needs the finite=TRUE
> argument, so it returns the range of only the finite elements
> of the input.
> 
> Bill Dunlap
> TIBCO Software Inc - Spotfire Division
> wdunlap tibco.com  
> 
>> Peter Ehlers
>>
>> Werner Wernersen wrote:
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> I have to follow up my own question since this problem is 
>> getting quite disturbing and I fear that it also causes other 
>> functions to malfunction without notice. 
>>> It occurs quite quite often when I manipulate the mentioned 
>> data set. It definitely is caused by the column entries which 
>> are Inf (caused by a value/0 operation) but I cannot 
>> reproduce the error. When I do a describe(c(5,3,76,4/0)), for 
>> example, the last value is Inf but the error is not thrown.
>>> But I can save the vector and load it and the error still 
>> occurs. Would someone be willing to look at that vector and 
>> maybe finds out the root of the problem? (I'll send the 
>> vector by email)
>>> As I said in the earlier email, the data is imported with 
>> read.dta of the foreign library and the only manipulation I 
>> do is dividing the values of two columns by each other.
>>> Thanks a million,
>>>   Werner
>>>
>>>
>>>> I have a weird problem with my data but I cannot really
>>>> locate it and cannot make a small example data set do
>>>> reproduce the problem.
>>>> I basically divide one numerical column of a data frame
>>>> with another. When I run describe() on that column, I get
>>>> "Error in vector("integer", length) : vector size cannot be
>>>> NA/NaN"
>>>>
>>>> The two original columns comprise many zero values and I
>>>> think the particular row which causes the problem ends up
>>>> with an "Inf". 
>>>>
>>>> I fear that other functions might also not be reliable for
>>>> this data and that I have to repair it somehow. It actually
>>>> happens with many of the variables from the various tables
>>>> which originally are in Stata .dta format and which I import
>>>> with the foreign library.
>>>>
>>>> I am working on windows XP and R 2.9.1
>>>>
>>>> I assume that this description is too vague but if anybody
>>>> has an idea, I would appreciate it.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks so much,
>>>>   Werner
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>> http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
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>>>
>>>
>> ______________________________________________
>> R-help at r-project.org mailing list
>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
>> PLEASE do read the posting guide 
>> http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
>> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>>
> 
>