Re: [R] prod(NaN, NA) vs. prod(NA, NaN)
I've been following this thread, and wondering where it might lead.
My (possibly naive) view of these matters is basically logical,
relying on (possibly over-simplified) interpretaions of "NA" and "NaN".
These are that:
"NaN" means "Not a Number", though it can result from a
numerical calculation, e.g. '0/0' or 'Inf/Inf', while:
"NA" means "Not Available" (e.g. "Missing Value"), but
should be interpreted as in rhe appropriate class of its
context -- so '2 + NA' interporets "NA" as numeric,
while 'vec("abc",NA)' interprets "NA" as character.
On that basis, the result of 'sum(NaN, )' should be
"NaN", since 'sum' presumes that its arguments are numeric,
and the sum of is not a number.
Likewise 'sum(, NaN)' should be NaN.
And in both of 'sum(NA, NaN) and sum(NaN, NA), the "NA" should
be interepreted as a "not-available number", and because
of the "NaN" the result cannot be a number, hence is "NaN".
So it sould seem that Martin Møller Skarbiniks Pedersen's
inconsistency:
sum(c(NaN,NA))
[1] NaN
sum(NaN,NA)
[1] NA
is not consistent with the above reasoning.
However, in my R version 2.14.0 (2011-10-31):
sum(NaN,NA)
[1] NA
sum(NA,NaN)
[1] NA
which **is** consistent! Hmmm...
Best wishes to all,
Ted.
On Wed, 2018-07-04 at 12:06 +0100, Barry Rowlingson wrote:
> I'm having deja-vu of a similar discussion on R-devel:
>
> https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/r-devel/2018-July/076377.html
>
> This was the funniest inconsistency I could find:
>
> > sum(c(NaN,NA))
> [1] NaN
> > sum(NaN,NA)
> [1] NA
>
> THEY'RE IN THE SAME ORDER!!!
>
> The doc in ?NaN has this clause:
>
> In R, basically all mathematical functions (including basic
> ‘Arithmetic’), are supposed to work properly with ‘+/- Inf’ and
> ‘NaN’ as input or output.
>
> which doesn't define "properly", but you'd think commutativity was a
> "proper" property of addition. So although they "are supposed to" they
> don't. Naughty mathematical functions!
>
> And then there's...
>
> Computations involving ‘NaN’ will return ‘NaN’ or perhaps ‘NA’:
> which of those two is not guaranteed and may depend on the R
> platform (since compilers may re-order computations).
>
> Which is at least telling you there is vagueness in the system. But
> hey, mathematics is not a precise science... oh wait...
>
> Barry
>
>
>
>
>
> On Tue, Jul 3, 2018 at 10:09 PM, Rolf Turner wrote:
> >
> > On 04/07/18 00:24, Martin Møller Skarbiniks Pedersen wrote:
> >
> >> Hi,
> >>I am currently using R v3.4.4 and I just discovered this:
> >>
> >>> prod(NA, NaN) ; prod(NaN, NA)
> >> [1] NA
> >> [1] NaN
> >>
> >> ?prod says:
> >> If ‘na.rm’ is ‘FALSE’ an ‘NA’ value in any of the arguments will
> >> cause a value of ‘NA’ to be returned, otherwise ‘NA’ values are
> >> ignored.
> >>
> >> So according to the manual-page for prod() NA should be returned in both
> >> cases?
> >>
> >>
> >> However for sum() is opposite is true:
> >>> sum(NA, NaN) ; sum(NaN, NA)
> >> [1] NA
> >> [1] NA
> >>
> >> ?sum says:
> >> If ‘na.rm’ is ‘FALSE’ an ‘NA’ or ‘NaN’ value in any of the
> >> arguments will cause a value of ‘NA’ or ‘NaN’ to be returned,
> >> otherwise ‘NA’ and ‘NaN’ values are ignored.
> >>
> >>
> >> Maybe the manual for prod() should say the same as sum() that
> >> both NA and NaN can be returned?
> >
> > But:
> >
> > > sum(NA,NaN)
> > [1] NA
> > > sum(NaN,NA)
> > [1] NA
> >
> > so sum gives NA "both ways around". Perhaps a slight inconsistency
> > here? I doubt that it's worth losing any sleep over, however.
> >
> > Interestingly (???):
> >
> > > NaN*NA
> > [1] NaN
> > > NA*NaN
> > [1] NA
> > > NaN+NA
> > [1] NaN
> > > NA+NaN
> > [1] NA
> >
> > So we have an instance of non-commutative arithmetic operations. And
> > sum() is a wee bit inconsistent with "+".
> >
> > Again I doubt that the implications are all that serious.
> >
> > cheers,
> >
> > Rolf Turner
> >
> > --
> > Technical Editor ANZJS
> > Department of Statistics
> > University of Auckland
> > Phone: +64-9-373-7599 ext. 88276
> >
> > __
> > R-help@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.
>
> __
> R-help@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.
__
R-help@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,
Re: [R] prod(NaN, NA) vs. prod(NA, NaN)
I'm having deja-vu of a similar discussion on R-devel: https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/r-devel/2018-July/076377.html This was the funniest inconsistency I could find: > sum(c(NaN,NA)) [1] NaN > sum(NaN,NA) [1] NA THEY'RE IN THE SAME ORDER!!! The doc in ?NaN has this clause: In R, basically all mathematical functions (including basic ‘Arithmetic’), are supposed to work properly with ‘+/- Inf’ and ‘NaN’ as input or output. which doesn't define "properly", but you'd think commutativity was a "proper" property of addition. So although they "are supposed to" they don't. Naughty mathematical functions! And then there's... Computations involving ‘NaN’ will return ‘NaN’ or perhaps ‘NA’: which of those two is not guaranteed and may depend on the R platform (since compilers may re-order computations). Which is at least telling you there is vagueness in the system. But hey, mathematics is not a precise science... oh wait... Barry On Tue, Jul 3, 2018 at 10:09 PM, Rolf Turner wrote: > > On 04/07/18 00:24, Martin Møller Skarbiniks Pedersen wrote: > >> Hi, >>I am currently using R v3.4.4 and I just discovered this: >> >>> prod(NA, NaN) ; prod(NaN, NA) >> [1] NA >> [1] NaN >> >> ?prod says: >> If ‘na.rm’ is ‘FALSE’ an ‘NA’ value in any of the arguments will >> cause a value of ‘NA’ to be returned, otherwise ‘NA’ values are >> ignored. >> >> So according to the manual-page for prod() NA should be returned in both >> cases? >> >> >> However for sum() is opposite is true: >>> sum(NA, NaN) ; sum(NaN, NA) >> [1] NA >> [1] NA >> >> ?sum says: >> If ‘na.rm’ is ‘FALSE’ an ‘NA’ or ‘NaN’ value in any of the >> arguments will cause a value of ‘NA’ or ‘NaN’ to be returned, >> otherwise ‘NA’ and ‘NaN’ values are ignored. >> >> >> Maybe the manual for prod() should say the same as sum() that >> both NA and NaN can be returned? > > But: > > > sum(NA,NaN) > [1] NA > > sum(NaN,NA) > [1] NA > > so sum gives NA "both ways around". Perhaps a slight inconsistency > here? I doubt that it's worth losing any sleep over, however. > > Interestingly (???): > > > NaN*NA > [1] NaN > > NA*NaN > [1] NA > > NaN+NA > [1] NaN > > NA+NaN > [1] NA > > So we have an instance of non-commutative arithmetic operations. And > sum() is a wee bit inconsistent with "+". > > Again I doubt that the implications are all that serious. > > cheers, > > Rolf Turner > > -- > Technical Editor ANZJS > Department of Statistics > University of Auckland > Phone: +64-9-373-7599 ext. 88276 > > __ > R-help@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. __ R-help@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.
Re: [R] prod(NaN, NA) vs. prod(NA, NaN)
On 04/07/18 00:24, Martin Møller Skarbiniks Pedersen wrote: Hi, I am currently using R v3.4.4 and I just discovered this: prod(NA, NaN) ; prod(NaN, NA) [1] NA [1] NaN ?prod says: If ‘na.rm’ is ‘FALSE’ an ‘NA’ value in any of the arguments will cause a value of ‘NA’ to be returned, otherwise ‘NA’ values are ignored. So according to the manual-page for prod() NA should be returned in both cases? However for sum() is opposite is true: sum(NA, NaN) ; sum(NaN, NA) [1] NA [1] NA ?sum says: If ‘na.rm’ is ‘FALSE’ an ‘NA’ or ‘NaN’ value in any of the arguments will cause a value of ‘NA’ or ‘NaN’ to be returned, otherwise ‘NA’ and ‘NaN’ values are ignored. Maybe the manual for prod() should say the same as sum() that both NA and NaN can be returned? But: > sum(NA,NaN) [1] NA > sum(NaN,NA) [1] NA so sum gives NA "both ways around". Perhaps a slight inconsistency here? I doubt that it's worth losing any sleep over, however. Interestingly (???): > NaN*NA [1] NaN > NA*NaN [1] NA > NaN+NA [1] NaN > NA+NaN [1] NA So we have an instance of non-commutative arithmetic operations. And sum() is a wee bit inconsistent with "+". Again I doubt that the implications are all that serious. cheers, Rolf Turner -- Technical Editor ANZJS Department of Statistics University of Auckland Phone: +64-9-373-7599 ext. 88276 __ R-help@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.
[R] prod(NaN, NA) vs. prod(NA, NaN)
Hi, I am currently using R v3.4.4 and I just discovered this: > prod(NA, NaN) ; prod(NaN, NA) [1] NA [1] NaN ?prod says: If ‘na.rm’ is ‘FALSE’ an ‘NA’ value in any of the arguments will cause a value of ‘NA’ to be returned, otherwise ‘NA’ values are ignored. So according to the manual-page for prod() NA should be returned in both cases? However for sum() is opposite is true: > sum(NA, NaN) ; sum(NaN, NA) [1] NA [1] NA ?sum says: If ‘na.rm’ is ‘FALSE’ an ‘NA’ or ‘NaN’ value in any of the arguments will cause a value of ‘NA’ or ‘NaN’ to be returned, otherwise ‘NA’ and ‘NaN’ values are ignored. Maybe the manual for prod() should say the same as sum() that both NA and NaN can be returned? Regards Martin __ R-help@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.
