Brian Ripley pointed out that there is already an R function scale() that does the work of my standardize(). -Greg -----Original Message----- From: Warnes, Gregory R Sent: Friday, January 18, 2002 9:38 AM To: 'Stuart Leask' Cc: 'r-help at stat.math.ethz.ch' Subject: RE: z-scores for different factor levels Hi Stuart, I often use this small function standardize <- function(x) ( x - mean(x, na.rm=T) ) / sqrt(var(x, na.rm=T)) to standardize variables. You should be able to use this to do what you want by splitting the data frame into sections based on the factor level, using standardize() to create a new variable in each section, then paste the data frame back together. Something like: # create test data test <- data.frame( f=sample(c("A","B","C"),100,replace=T), x1=rnorm(100,2,5), x2=rnorm(100) ) # split by factor subsets <- split(test,test$f) # create the standardized version of x1 subsets <- lapply(subsets, function(s) { s$x1s <- standardize(s$x1); s} ) # paste the results back together result <- data.frame() for(s in subsets) result <- rbind(result, s) -Greg -----Original Message----- From: Stuart Leask [mailto:stuart.leask at nottingham.ac.uk] Sent: Friday, January 18, 2002 5:33 AM To: r-help at stat.math.ethz.ch Subject: [R]: z-scores for different factor levels Hi there. I am trying to generate z-scores for a variable according to it's factor level, leaving this result in the original dataframe. ie. standardised birth weight for gestational age in weeks. BWT is birthweight GEST is gestational age in weeks (equivalent to the factor level) I can generate the factor level mean & SD using tapply tapply(BWT,GEST,mean) etc. but this creates a new array of means & SDs. - Can anyone suggest how I can slot these means & SDs by factor level straight back into the original dataframe, so I can then subtract the mean & divide by the SD to get a Z-score for each case? - Is there a function already available that can generate z-scores by factor levels? Stuart Dr Stuart Leask MA MRCPsych, Clinical Lecturer in Psychiatry University of Nottingham Dept of Psychiatry, Duncan Macmillan House Porchester Road, Nottingham. NG3 6AA. UK http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/psychiatry/staff/sjl.html -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-. -.- r-help mailing list -- Read http://www.ci.tuwien.ac.at/~hornik/R/R-FAQ.html Send "info", "help", or "[un]subscribe" (in the "body", not the subject !) To: r-help-request at stat.math.ethz.ch _._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._. _._ LEGAL NOTICE Unless expressly stated otherwise, this message is confidential and may be privileged. It is intended for the addressee(s) only. Access to this E-mail by anyone else is unauthorized. If you are not an addressee, any disclosure or copying of the contents of this E-mail or any action taken (or not taken) in reliance on it is unauthorized and may be unlawful. If you are not an addressee, please inform the sender immediately. -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.- r-help mailing list -- Read http://www.ci.tuwien.ac.at/~hornik/R/R-FAQ.html Send "info", "help", or "[un]subscribe" (in the "body", not the subject !) To: r-help-request at stat.math.ethz.ch _._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._