[R] by function with sum does not give what is expected from by function with print

[Duncan Murdoch]

On 23/07/2020 6:15 p.m., Sorkin, John wrote:
> Colleagues,
>   
> The by function in the R program below is not giving me the sums
> I expect to see, viz.,
> 382+170=552
> 4730+170=4900
> 5+6=11
> 199+25=224
> ###################################################
> #full R program:
> mydata <- data.frame(covid=c(0,0,0,0,1,1,1,1),
> sex=(rep(c(1,1,0,0),2)),
> status=rep(c(1,0),2),
> values=c(382,4730,5,199,170,497,6,25))
> mydata
> by(mydata,list(mydata$sex,mydata$status),sum)
> by(mydata,list(mydata$sex,mydata$status),print)
> ###################################################

The problem is that you are summing the mydata values, not the 
mydata$values values.  That will include covid, sex and status in the 
sums.  I think you'll get what you should (though it doesn't match what 
you say you expected, which looks wrong to me) with this code:

by(mydata$values,list(mydata$sex,mydata$status),sum)

for 0,0, the sum is 224 = 199+25
for 0,1, the sum is  11 = 5+6
for 1,0, the sum is 5227 = 4730 + 497 (not 4730 + 170)
for 1,1, the sum is 552 = 382 + 170

Duncan Murdoch


> 
> More complete explanation of my question
>   
> I have created a simple dataframe having three factors:
>   mydata <- data.frame(covid=c(0,0,0,0,1,1,1,1),
>   sex=(rep(c(1,1,0,0),2)),
>   status=rep(c(1,0),2),
>   values=c(382,4730,5,199,170,497,6,25))
>   
>   > mydata
>    covid sex status values
> 1     0   1      1    382
> 2     0   1      0   4730
> 3     0   0      1      5
> 4     0   0      0    199
> 5     1   1      1    170
> 6     1   1      0    497
> 7     1   0      1      6
> 8     1   0      0     25
>   
> When I use the by function with a sum as an argument, I don’t
> get the sums that I would expect to
> receive based either on the listing of the dataframe above,
> or from using by with print as an argument:
>   
>> by(mydata,list(mydata$sex,mydata$status),sum)
> : 0
> : 0
> [1] 225
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> : 1
> : 0
> [1] 5230
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> : 0
> : 1
> [1] 14
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> : 1
> : 1
> [1] 557
>   
> I expected to see the following sums:
> 382+170=552
> 4730+170=4900
> 5+6=11
> 199+25=224
> Which as can be seen by the output above, I am not getting.
>   
> Using print as an argument to the by function, I get the values
> grouped as I would expect, but for some reason I get a double
> printing of the values!
>   
>> by(mydata,list(mydata$sex,mydata$status),print)
>    covid sex status values
> 4     0   0      0    199
> 8     1   0      0     25
>    covid sex status values
> 2     0   1      0   4730
> 6     1   1      0    497
>    covid sex status values
> 3     0   0      1      5
> 7     1   0      1      6
>    covid sex status values
> 1     0   1      1    382
> 5     1   1      1    170
> : 0
> : 0
>    covid sex status values
> 4     0   0      0    199
> 8     1   0      0     25
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> : 1
> : 0
>    covid sex status values
> 2     0   1      0   4730
> 6     1   1      0    497
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> : 0
> : 1
>    covid sex status values
> 3     0   0      1      5
> 7     1   0      1      6
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> : 1
> : 1
>    covid sex status values
> 1     0   1      1    382
> 5     1   1      1    170
>   
> What am I doing wrong, or what don’t I understand
> About the by function?
>   
> Thank you
> John
>   
>   
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> John David Sorkin M.D., Ph.D.
> 
> Professor of Medicine
> 
> Chief, Biostatistics and Informatics
> 
> University of Maryland School of Medicine Division of Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine
> 
> Baltimore VA Medical Center
> 
> 10 North Greene Street
> 
> GRECC (BT/18/GR)
> 
> Baltimore, MD 21201-1524
> 
> (Phone) 410-605-7119
> 
> (Fax) 410-605-7913 (Please call phone number above prior to faxing)
> 
> 
> 
> ______________________________________________
> R-help using r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see
> 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.
>