R help - Dec 2011 - Random Forest Reading N/A's, I don't see them

After checking the original data in Excel for blanks and running Summary(cm3)
to identify any null values in my data, I'm unable to identify an instances.
Yet when I attempted to use the data in Random Forest, I get the following
error. Is there something that Random Forest is reading as null which is not
actually null? Is there a better way to check for this?
> library(randomForest)
> system.time(
+ rf1 <- randomForest(as.matrix(cm3[,c(2:length(colnames(cm3)))]),
+ cm3[,1],data=cm3,ntree=50)
+ )
*Error in randomForest.default(as.matrix(cm3[, c(2:length(colnames(cm3)))]), 
: 
  NA/NaN/Inf in foreign function call (arg 1)
In addition: Warning message:
In storage.mode(x) <- "double" : NAs introduced by coercion
Timing stopped at: 1.33 0.01 1.35 *


Thanks in advance,
Mike

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Use str() on your object and attach the result. For even faster help, use dput()
on a *small* sample of your data to make the problem reproducible.

My guess is that there are characters or, less likely, factors lurking about...

Michael

On Dec 15, 2011, at 2:39 PM, Lost in R <michael.hartye at
principiscapital.com> wrote:
> After checking the original data in Excel for blanks and running
Summary(cm3)
> to identify any null values in my data, I'm unable to identify an
instances.
> Yet when I attempted to use the data in Random Forest, I get the following
> error. Is there something that Random Forest is reading as null which is
not
> actually null? Is there a better way to check for this?
> 
>> library(randomForest)
>> system.time(
> + rf1 <- randomForest(as.matrix(cm3[,c(2:length(colnames(cm3)))]),
> + cm3[,1],data=cm3,ntree=50)
> + )
> *Error in randomForest.default(as.matrix(cm3[,
c(2:length(colnames(cm3)))]),
> : 
>  NA/NaN/Inf in foreign function call (arg 1)
> In addition: Warning message:
> In storage.mode(x) <- "double" : NAs introduced by coercion
> Timing stopped at: 1.33 0.01 1.35 *
> 
> 
> Thanks in advance,
> Mike
> 
> --
> View this message in context:
http://r.789695.n4.nabble.com/Random-Forest-Reading-N-A-s-I-don-t-see-them-tp4201546p4201546.html
> Sent from the R help mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
> 
> ______________________________________________
> R-help at r-project.org 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.

On Dec 15, 2011, at 2:39 PM, Lost in R wrote:
> After checking the original data in Excel for blanks and running  
> Summary(cm3)
> to identify any null values in my data, I'm unable to identify an  
> instances.
> Yet when I attempted to use the data in Random Forest, I get the  
> following
> error. Is there something that Random Forest is reading as null  
> which is not
> actually null? Is there a better way to check for this?
>
>> library(randomForest)
>> system.time(
> + rf1 <- randomForest(as.matrix(
# Are you aware of the effect of using as.matrix(..) on the storage  
mode?
> cm3[,c(2:length(colnames(cm3)))]),
# that was the x argument
> + cm3[,1],
# The y variable
> data=cm3,
# That's odd. You already offered the data objects.  I wonder what the  
function will do with that?

> ntree=50)
> + )
> *Error in randomForest.default(as.matrix(cm3[,  
> c(2:length(colnames(cm3)))]),
> :
>  NA/NaN/Inf in foreign function call (arg 1)
> In addition: Warning message:
> In storage.mode(x) <- "double" : NAs introduced by coercion
I can see two potential sources of such an error.
> Timing stopped at: 1.33 0.01 1.35 *
>
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Mike
>
> --
> View this message in context:
http://r.789695.n4.nabble.com/Random-Forest-Reading-N-A-s-I-don-t-see-them-tp4201546p4201546.html
> Sent from the R help mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
>
> ______________________________________________
> R-help at r-project.org 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.
David Winsemius, MD
West Hartford, CT