[R] Function gives numeric(0) for every input

[Peter Langfelder]

Well, you assign numeric(0) or numeric(0)+1, which is still
numeric(0). No wonder the return value is always numeric(0).

You probably need to replace numeric(0) simply by 0. Numeric(0) does
not mean 0, it means a numeric vector of length zero (i.e., empty).

HTH,

Peter

On Sat, Nov 19, 2011 at 6:52 PM, alex_janssen <janssena at uoguelph.ca> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I am trying to code buffons needle in R for a class
>
> This is my code w/ output from R, if anyone could tell me why this is
> happening it would be amazing,
>
> I can generate correct results without putting the steps into a function but
> alas that is the assignment.
>> buffon = function(n){
> + x = NULL
> + theta = NULL
> + a = NULL
> + phat = numeric(0)
> + i = 1
> +
> + while ( i <= n){
> + x[i] <- runif(1,0,1/2)
> + theta[i] <- runif(1,0,pi/2)
> + a[i] <- 1/2 * (sin(theta[i])) - x[i]
> +
> +
> + if (a[i] <= 0)phat <- phat + 1
> + else phat<-phat
> + i <- i + 1
> +
> +  }
> + return(phat)
> + }
>> buffon(10)
> numeric(0)
>>
> Thanks Again
>
> the response should be the number of times a[i] is less than or equal to
> zero, which i am calling phat
>
> --
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