I am having difficulty finding a solution to devising an R code to do the following: I have 5 numerical variables and I would like to create a new variable that is the sum of those 5 variables. However, there are many NA values throughout these 5 variables and everytime I run the following code new_variable=var1+var2+var3+var4+var5 I get NA as the sum whenever one of those 5 variables are NA. I cannot figure out a way to have new_variable represent the sum for only those values that are not NA. As an example, if var1=3 var2=3 var3=NA var4=NA var5=2 I would like new_variable to be 8 but I keep getting NA and I have unsuccessfully tried different methods to do so. I feel there is a simple method to solve my problem but I am unaware of such. I would appreciate any guidance! Thank you JC [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
HI, ?sum(var1,var2,var3,var4,var5,na.rm=TRUE) #[1] 8 A.K. ----- Original Message ----- From: Jin Choi <oohpsjin at gmail.com> To: "r-help at r-project.org" <r-help at r-project.org> Cc: Sent: Saturday, July 20, 2013 12:37 AM Subject: [R] Adding across columns ignoring NA I am having difficulty finding a solution to devising an R code to do the following: I have 5 numerical variables and I would like to create a new variable that is the sum of those 5 variables. However, there are many NA values throughout these 5 variables and everytime I run the following code new_variable=var1+var2+var3+var4+var5 I get NA as the sum whenever one of those 5 variables are NA. I cannot figure out a way to have new_variable represent the sum for only those values that are not NA. As an example, if var1=3 var2=3 var3=NA var4=NA var5=2 I would like new_variable to be 8 but I keep getting NA and I have unsuccessfully tried different methods to do so. I feel there is a simple method to solve my problem but I am unaware of such. I would appreciate any guidance! Thank you JC ??? [[alternative HTML version deleted]] ______________________________________________ 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 20-07-2013, at 06:37, Jin Choi <oohpsjin at gmail.com> wrote:> I am having difficulty finding a solution to devising an R code to do the > following: > > I have 5 numerical variables and I would like to create a new variable that > is the sum of those 5 variables. However, there are many NA values > throughout these 5 variables and everytime I run the following code > > new_variable=var1+var2+var3+var4+var5 > > I get NA as the sum whenever one of those 5 variables are NA. I cannot > figure out a way to have new_variable represent the sum for only those > values that are not NA. > > As an example, > if var1=3 > var2=3 > var3=NA > var4=NA > var5=2 > > I would like new_variable to be 8 but I keep getting NA and I have > unsuccessfully tried different methods to do so. I feel there is a simple > method to solve my problem but I am unaware of such. I would appreciate any > guidance!?sum Have a look at the na.rm argument of sum. Berend