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From | Carter Rees <carterrees@gmail.com> |
To | <statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu> |
Subject | Re: st: Generate variable seems to round numbers |
Date | Fri, 30 Dec 2011 13:21:13 -0700 |
As a follow-up, the new variable ALT_AID_NEW has a format of float %9.0g before running the -tostring- command. Hi Statalist, Working on a Mac Lion, Stata 12 MP4. I am working with a data set that has variable ALT_AID stored as long %10.0g. The variable is a unique identifier for a best friend the respondent named on a survey. ALT_AID was originally stored as an 8 character string variable but I used -destring- to get it to its present format (I didn't specify a format, I let it set to the -destring- default). My issue is this: If I want to create a duplicate of ALT_AID variable is use the command: gen ALT_AID_NEW = ALT_AID The first case listed in my data set says ALT_AID has a value of 95576948. When I look at the variable ALT_AID_NEW in the editor I see it stored as 9.56e+07, clicking on the cell reveals a value of 95576944. If I use the -tostring- command it returns an 8 character string variable with the same value of 95576944. As you can see, my unique identifier is now off by 4 places in the new variable. This is happening in other cases as well with numbers being off by 2 to 4 places. I am wondering if this is supposed to be happening and I simply need to pay closer attention to formatting decisions in the future. Or, is there something amiss with how this being handled in Stata? Thank you, Carter * * For searches and help try: * http://www.stata.com/help.cgi?search * http://www.stata.com/support/statalist/faq * http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/ * * For searches and help try: * http://www.stata.com/help.cgi?search * http://www.stata.com/support/statalist/faq * http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/