R help - Nov 2004 - boxplot in extreme cases

I noticed the following:
the 2 datasets
rep(c(0,1,2),c(10,20,40)) and
rep(c(0,1,2),c(10,40,20))
produce identical boxplots despite the fact that the medians are 
different. The reason is that the median in one case coincides with the
first quartile, and in the second case with the third quartile.
Is there a recommended way of displaying the median visibly in these 
cases? Setting notch=TRUE displays the median, but does look strange.

Try:

x <- list(x1=rep(c(0,1,2),c(10,20,40)), x2=rep(c(0,1,2),c(10,40,20)))
boxplot(x, pars=list(medpch=20, medcex=3))

(Cf ?bxp, pointed to from ?boxplot.)

Andy
> From: Erich Neuwirth
> 
> I noticed the following:
> the 2 datasets
> rep(c(0,1,2),c(10,20,40)) and
> rep(c(0,1,2),c(10,40,20))
> produce identical boxplots despite the fact that the medians are 
> different. The reason is that the median in one case 
> coincides with the
> first quartile, and in the second case with the third quartile.
> Is there a recommended way of displaying the median visibly in these 
> cases? Setting notch=TRUE displays the median, but does look strange.
> 
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