Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.44.0302061546330.2400-100000@gannet.stats>
Date: 2003-02-06T16:54:03Z
From: Brian Ripley
Subject: signif {base}: changes to scientific notation
In-Reply-To: <20030206163856.A2812@s1x.zimnet.ch>
You are confusing signif() and printing!
signif() returns a real number.
Printing does exactly what it is described to do, and has no concept of
how the number was produced.
I guess you were looking for format(), which allows more control.
On Thu, 6 Feb 2003, Wolfram Fischer - Z/I/M wrote:
> PROBLEM
> `signif' does change to scientic notation
> at different levels depending on the number
> of significant digits in the input.
>
> This can generate tables where figures change
> ``irregularly'' from normal to scientific notation.
>
>
> PROPOSAL
> The change to the scientific notation should
> be made only if the figure in scientific notation
> - with potentially as many significant digits as
> given as argument to the call of `signif' -
> would be shorter than the figure in normal notation.
This is a misunderstanding of what is happening
--
Brian D. Ripley, ripley@stats.ox.ac.uk
Professor of Applied Statistics, http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/
University of Oxford, Tel: +44 1865 272861 (self)
1 South Parks Road, +44 1865 272866 (PA)
Oxford OX1 3TG, UK Fax: +44 1865 272595