R help - Dec 2009 - Distribution fitting with binned data

Hello

   I need to fit a distribution to a histogram data set.  I have read 
Ricci's guide to distribution fitting, and am ready to begin 
experimenting with the techniques it mentions, but I am uncertain how to 
get my data in the format he uses.

   My problem is that my data is binned.  So for example my data is in 
the following format

#lb  ub  count
   0   1  4
   1   2  7
   2   3  2

Indicating that I have 4 observations between 0 and 1, 7 obs between 1 
and 2, and 2 obs between 2 and 3.  I assume it should be simple to 
somehow transform the dataset to a vector such as:

1
1
1
1
2
2
2
2
2
2
3
3

But I don't know how to do that in R.  I have a decent amount of 
datasets I will want to perform this distribution fitting analysis, so 
if there is a better way, I'm game to learn about it.  So any help is 
welcome.

Cheers,
Brad

On Dec 4, 2009, at 2:04 PM, Bradley W. Settlemyer wrote:
> Hello
>
>  I need to fit a distribution to a histogram data set.  I have read  
> Ricci's guide to distribution fitting, and am ready to begin  
> experimenting with the techniques it mentions, but I am uncertain  
> how to get my data in the format he uses.
>
>  My problem is that my data is binned.  So for example my data is in  
> the following format
>
> #lb  ub  count
>  0   1  4
>  1   2  7
>  2   3  2
? rep

 > rep(c(1,2,3), c(4,7,2))
  [1] 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3

>
> Indicating that I have 4 observations between 0 and 1, 7 obs between  
> 1 and 2, and 2 obs between 2 and 3.  I assume it should be simple to  
> somehow transform the dataset to a vector such as:
>
> 1
> 1
> 1
> 1
> 2
> 2
> 2
> 2
> 2
> 2
> 3
> 3
>
> But I don't know how to do that in R.  I have a decent amount of  
> datasets I will want to perform this distribution fitting analysis,  
> so if there is a better way, I'm game to learn about it.  So any  
> help is welcome.
>
> Cheers,
> Brad
>
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David Winsemius, MD
Heritage Laboratories
West Hartford, CT