Error in Cut command - 'x' must be numeric?

Hi Everyone

I have a data set I want to bucket into deciles. Have been trying (without) success to use cut and using online help to understand my error. Here is my code to read in a few sample rows. I want to then create deciles by this variable

a<-read.csv("c:/temp/petrol.csv",header=TRUE,sep=",")
a

   tot_rdm_amt
1        40.15
2       332.65
3       533.37
4       225.54
5       503.89
6       161.57
7       266.61
8       100.50
9       268.81
10      593.86
11      306.27
12      303.43
13      308.09
14      802.36
15      271.51
16      479.99
17      170.00
18      467.08
19      637.10

b<-cut(a,10)

Error in cut.default(a, 10) : 'x' must be numeric

summary(a)

  tot_rdm_amt    
 Min.   : 40.15  
 1st Qu.:246.07  
 Median :306.27  
 Mean   :356.46  
 3rd Qu.:491.94  
 Max.   :802.36  

I cannot work out why I am getting the error when summary produces sumamry stats, so clearly its reading as numeric? 

Yet when I run the following commands (from online R-Help doc), I get no issues:

Z <- stats::rnorm(10000) 
table(cut(Z, breaks = -6:6)) 

Any assistance would be greatful. Am new user to R so clearly missing something basic here!

Thanks
Peter



Peter Mackay
Data Mining Specialist
Corporate - Customer Engagement
Woolworths Limited

P 02 8885 2345 | F 02 8888 2345 | M  0425 319 306
E pmackay at woolworths.com.au 

1 Woolworths Way Bella Vista, NSW 2153
PO Box 8000 Baulkham Hills, NSW 2153

Mail point: E1.B7

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