dear Mathew mean is a Generic function
mean(x...) in wich x is a data object, like a data frame a list a numeric vector... so in your example it only reads the first character and then reports it. try x = c(1,1,2) mean(x) kind regards, Tom Disclaimer: click here [[alternative HTML version deleted]] ______________________________________________ R-help@stat.math.ethz.ch 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.