From p.dalgaard at biostat.ku.dk  Wed Jun  2 16:09:50 2004
From: p.dalgaard at biostat.ku.dk (Peter Dalgaard)
Date: Wed Jun  2 16:16:24 2004
Subject: [Rd] a fault in the "hist" - function (PR#6931)
In-Reply-To: <20040602133446.186CF10882@slim.kubism.ku.dk>
References: <20040602133446.186CF10882@slim.kubism.ku.dk>
Message-ID: <x2isea126p.fsf@biostat.ku.dk>

ligges@statistik.uni-dortmund.de writes:

> The problem is in hist.default():
> 
>      diddle <- 1e-7 * max(abs(range(breaks)))
> 
> and whereever we are diddling - there are some disadvantages.
> 
> Do we want a flag that turns off diddling and the following "fuzz" 
> stuff? Or do we want something to adjust the hardcoded heuristical value 
> "1e-7" (to zero, for example)?

Neither, I think, since the diddle is there for a reason, and the only
real problem is the use of breaks that are wildly off-scale. We might
key diddle to xlim instead, or possibly let "diddle" be an argument
with a suitable default. 

You probably can't get all cases completely right though. A tiny range
of numbers (compared to the mean) is likely to cause problems whatever
you do.

-- 
   O__  ---- Peter Dalgaard             Blegdamsvej 3  
  c/ /'_ --- Dept. of Biostatistics     2200 Cph. N   
 (*) \(*) -- University of Copenhagen   Denmark      Ph: (+45) 35327918
~~~~~~~~~~ - (p.dalgaard@biostat.ku.dk)             FAX: (+45) 35327907


[Rd] a fault in the "hist" - function (PR#6931)
Peter Dalgaard