R help - Jul 2009 - error message: .Random.seed is not an integer vector but

Thanks much Ted.  I actually had just tried what you suggest here before
you posted, and resolved the problem.  Thanks also for the other tips.  I
wrote x = as.vector(c(1:12)) because I thought that the mode of x might be
the problem, the error message pointing to .Random.seed notwithstanding.

On a related note, I did a brief test a couple weeks back where I ran a
million random samples of 3 from the vector 1:12 and compared the mean
against the known mean.  It was off by 1 percent, which indicated that the
RNG was biased more than I'd have thought.  Comments?
Jim
 
> Follow-up to my previous reply (just posted). Having read the other
> responses and your reactions, try the following:
> 
>   rm(.Random.seed)
>   set.seed(54321)         ## (Or your favourite magic number) [*]
>   x = as.vector(c(1:12))  ## To reproduce your original code ... !
>   sample(x,3)
> 
> [*] When you did rm(.Random.seed) as suggested by Uwe, the variable
> .Random.seed was lost, so you have to create it again.
> 
> If, after the above, you still get the problem, then something is
> very seriously wrong.
> 
> Ted.
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
> E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding at manchester.ac.uk>
> Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861
> Date: 23-Jul-09                                       Time: 17:23:09
> ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------
> 
Jim Bouldin, PhD
Research Ecologist
Department of Plant Sciences, UC Davis
Davis CA, 95616
530-554-1740

> -----Original Message-----
> From: r-help-bounces at r-project.org [mailto:r-help-bounces at
r-project.org] On
> Behalf Of Jim Bouldin
> Sent: Thursday, July 23, 2009 9:49 AM
> To: Ted.Harding at manchester.ac.uk; ted.harding at manchester.ac.uk;
r-help at r-
> project.org
> Subject: Re: [R] error message: .Random.seed is not an integer vector but
> 
> 
> Thanks much Ted.  I actually had just tried what you suggest here before
> you posted, and resolved the problem.  Thanks also for the other tips.  I
> wrote x = as.vector(c(1:12)) because I thought that the mode of x might be
> the problem, the error message pointing to .Random.seed notwithstanding.
> 
> On a related note, I did a brief test a couple weeks back where I ran a
> million random samples of 3 from the vector 1:12 and compared the mean
> against the known mean.  It was off by 1 percent, which indicated that the
> RNG was biased more than I'd have thought.  Comments?
> Jim
> 
<<<snip>>>

It would be necessary to see the code for your 'brief test' before
anyone could meaningfully comment on your results.  But your results for a
single test could have been a valid "random" result.

Dan

Daniel J. Nordlund
Washington State Department of Social and Health Services
Planning, Performance, and Accountability
Research and Data Analysis Division
Olympia, WA  98504-5204