aggregate               package:stats               R Documentation

_C_o_m_p_u_t_e _S_u_m_m_a_r_y _S_t_a_t_i_s_t_i_c_s _o_f _D_a_t_a _S_u_b_s_e_t_s

_D_e_s_c_r_i_p_t_i_o_n:

     Splits the data into subsets, computes summary statistics for
     each, and returns the result in a convenient form.

_U_s_a_g_e:

     aggregate(x, ...)

     ## Default S3 method:
     aggregate(x, ...)

     ## S3 method for class 'data.frame':
     aggregate(x, by, FUN, ...)

     ## S3 method for class 'ts':
     aggregate(x, nfrequency = 1, FUN = sum, ndeltat = 1,
               ts.eps = getOption("ts.eps"), ...)

_A_r_g_u_m_e_n_t_s:

       x: an R object.

      by: a list of grouping elements, each as long as the variables in
          'x'.  Names for the grouping variables are provided if they
          are not given.  The elements of the list will be coerced to
          factors (if they are not already factors).

     FUN: a scalar function to compute the summary statistics which can
          be applied to all data subsets.

nfrequency: new number of observations per unit of time; must be a
          divisor of the frequency of 'x'.

 ndeltat: new fraction of the sampling period between successive
          observations; must be a divisor of the sampling interval of
          'x'.

  ts.eps: tolerance used to decide if 'nfrequency' is a sub-multiple of
          the original frequency.

     ...: further arguments passed to or used by methods.

_D_e_t_a_i_l_s:

     'aggregate' is a generic function with methods for data frames and
     time series.

     The default method 'aggregate.default' uses the time series method
     if 'x' is a time series, and otherwise coerces 'x' to a data frame
     and calls the data frame method.

     'aggregate.data.frame' is the data frame method.  If 'x' is not a
     data frame, it is coerced to one.  Then, each of the variables
     (columns) in 'x' is split into subsets of cases (rows) of
     identical combinations of the components of 'by', and 'FUN' is
     applied to each such subset with further arguments in '...' passed
     to it. (I.e., 'tapply(VAR, by, FUN, ..., simplify = FALSE)' is
     done for each variable 'VAR' in 'x', conveniently wrapped into one
     call to 'lapply()'.) Empty subsets are removed, and the result is
     reformatted into a data frame containing the variables in 'by' and
     'x'.  The ones arising from 'by' contain the unique combinations
     of grouping values used for determining the subsets, and the ones
     arising from 'x' the corresponding summary statistics for the
     subset of the respective variables in 'x'.

     'aggregate.ts' is the time series method.  If 'x' is not a time
     series, it is coerced to one.  Then, the variables in 'x' are
     split into appropriate blocks of length 'frequency(x) /
     nfrequency', and 'FUN' is applied to each such block, with further
     (named) arguments in '...' passed to it.  The result returned is a
     time series with frequency 'nfrequency' holding the aggregated
     values.

_A_u_t_h_o_r(_s):

     Kurt Hornik

_R_e_f_e_r_e_n_c_e_s:

     Becker, R. A., Chambers, J. M. and Wilks, A. R. (1988) _The New S
     Language_. Wadsworth & Brooks/Cole.

_S_e_e _A_l_s_o:

     'apply', 'lapply', 'tapply'.

_E_x_a_m_p_l_e_s:

     ## Compute the averages for the variables in 'state.x77', grouped
     ## according to the region (Northeast, South, North Central, West) that
     ## each state belongs to.
     aggregate(state.x77, list(Region = state.region), mean)

     ## Compute the averages according to region and the occurrence of more
     ## than 130 days of frost.
     aggregate(state.x77,
               list(Region = state.region,
                    Cold = state.x77[,"Frost"] > 130),
               mean)
     ## (Note that no state in 'South' is THAT cold.)

     ## Compute the average annual approval ratings for American presidents.
     aggregate(presidents, nf = 1, FUN = mean)
     ## Give the summer less weight.
     aggregate(presidents, nf = 1, FUN = weighted.mean, w = c(1, 1, 0.5, 1))

