A small detail arose in a recent posting
of Svend Juul's that comes up frequently
elsewhere, so that a brief comment seems worthwhile.
Svend wanted to fake a dataset including
a month variable running over 1..12 so
he coded
. gen month = int(1 + 12 * uniform())
This is fine and works, as would
. gen month = 1 + int(12 * uniform())
but there is a neater way to do it:
. gen month = ceil(12 * uniform())
The story is that -uniform()- emits random
numbers between 0 and 1, but we often want random integers
over a different range, usually 1 up, so we must multiply
_and_ round to integers.
Many people have come across an integer function
in other software long since, so they have wired
in their memories the idea of using -int()-, which
was the first rounding function in Stata. But as -int()-
rounds down, you need to correct that by adding 1
whenever the desired range starts at 1.
However, -ceil()-, short for ceiling, rounds up
and gets you there directly.
There is another illustration of this in Bill Gould's
latest Mata column in the Stata Journal.
This is already a Stata Journal Tip on -ceil()- and
-floor()-:
SJ-3-4 dm0002 . . . . . . . . Stata tip 2: Building with floors and ceilings
Q4/03 SJ 3(4):446--447 (no commands)
tips for using floor() and ceil()
although not with this example.
Nick
[email protected]
*
* For searches and help try:
* http://www.stata.com/support/faqs/res/findit.html
* http://www.stata.com/support/statalist/faq
* http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/
