And thanks, Sarah, using scale=2 got me the sort of plot I was looking for. I agree the help is a bit thin on that function. -------------------------------------------- On Mon, 8/29/16, Sarah Goslee <sarah.goslee at gmail.com> wrote: Subject: Re: [R] possible error in stem() function? Cc: "r-help" <r-help at r-project.org> Date: Monday, August 29, 2016, 4:11 PM The help isn't particularly helpful, but you need to play with the scale argument. The range of your first dataset is long enough that you're getting only even-numbered stems by default. Try these: x1 <- c(479,482,487,493,494,494,495,496,497,498,498,499,503,504,507,507,508, 510,511,512,514,516,520,524,525,525,527,534,536,542,545,546,547,549, ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ???557,559,561,561,563,563,567,568,569,570,572,578,584) stem(x1, scale=1) summary(x1) stem(x1, scale=2) x2 <- c(479,482,487,493,494,494,495,496,497,498,498,499,503,504,507,507,508, 510,511,512,514,516,520,524,525,525,527,534,536,542,545,546,547,549, ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ???557,559,561,561,563,563,567,568,569,570,572,578) stem(x2, scale=1) summary(x2) stem(x2, scale=2) On Mon, Aug 29, 2016 at 1:42 PM, Zibeli Aton via R-help <r-help at r-project.org> wrote: > Using R-3.3.1 on Linux I seem to sometimes get inaccurate stem-and-leaf plots using stem.? For example: > >> x <- c(479,482,487,493,494,494,495,496,497,498,498,499,503,504,507,507,508, > +? ? ? ? ? ? ? ???510,511,512,514,516,520,524,525,525,527,534,536,542,545,546,547,549, > +? ? ? ? ? ? ? ???557,559,561,561,563,563,567,568,569,570,572,578,584) >> stem(x) > >???The decimal point is 1 digit(s) to the right of the | > >???46 | 9 >???48 | 27344567889 >???50 | 3477801246 >???52 | 0455746 >???54 | 2567979 >???56 | 1133789028 >???58 | 4 > > This plot is inaccurate since there are no values 469, 483, 484, etc. in the data. > > If I remove one value from the input, then the result appears correct: > >> x <- c(479,482,487,493,494,494,495,496,497,498,498,499,503,504,507,507,508, > +? ? ? ? ? ? ? ???510,511,512,514,516,520,524,525,525,527,534,536,542,545,546,547,549, > +? ? ? ? ? ? ? ???557,559,561,561,563,563,567,568,569,570,572,578) >> stem(x) > >???The decimal point is 1 digit(s) to the right of the | > >???47 | 9 >???48 | 27 >???49 | 344567889 >???50 | 34778 >???51 | 01246 >???52 | 04557 >???53 | 46 >???54 | 25679 >???55 | 79 >???56 | 1133789 >???57 | 028 > > Is there a limit to the length of the input argument, a bug in the function, or something I'm missing? > > Thanks. >