[R] Circular Statistic in R

[David L Carlson]

The circular() function sets the details of your circular data. Mathematicians think in terms of radians that begin at 3 o'clock and proceed counterclockwise which I believe is the default. Geographers think in terms of degrees that begin at 12 o'clock and proceed clockwise. Unless you get all three attributes set correctly, things can get strange.

-------------------------------------
David L Carlson
Department of Anthropology
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX 77840-4352

-----Original Message-----
From: Jeff Reichman [mailto:reichmanj at sbcglobal.net] 
Sent: Wednesday, March 16, 2016 11:33 AM
To: David L Carlson
Subject: RE: [R] Circular Statistic in R

David

Thank you for your comments.  I am using the circular package and find my
data words better when I convert to radians, but I'm lazy and don't like
converting back and forth (radian - degrees); but find when I work in
degrees my results are funky. So I just assumed R prefers radians as opposed
to degrees.  It could also be how I'm using the commands in R when dealing
in degrees. I've just started using the circular package yesterday.

Jeff

-----Original Message-----
From: David L Carlson [mailto:dcarlson at tamu.edu] 
Sent: Wednesday, March 16, 2016 9:01 AM
To: reichmanj at sbcglobal.net
Subject: RE: [R] Circular Statistic in R

It is always hard to diagnose unspecified "problems", but it should not
matter. You do need to use statistical methods specifically designed for
circular data. Even simple descriptive statistics such as the mean, standard
deviation, and variance require special functions. Try package circular.

-------------------------------------
David L Carlson
Department of Anthropology
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX 77840-4352

-----Original Message-----
From: R-help [mailto:r-help-bounces at r-project.org] On Behalf Of Jeff
Reichman
Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2016 6:14 PM
To: r-help at r-project.org
Subject: [R] Circular Statistic in R

R-Help



Is it preferable to work in Radians or Degrees when performing circular
statistics.  I'm assuming radians because I'm running into problems in
Degrees.



Jeff


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