I see no bug here. This is a standard precision
issue arising from the fact that computers work
in binary. 0.1 looks simple to you but it can
only be approximated, not held exactly, in binary.
This is well documented:
Look at [U] 16.10 and (for example)
http://www.stata.com/support/faqs/data/mod.html
and then, I believe, this mystery will become clear.
Also, a practical answer to your need
lies in the -float()- function.
I can't comment on your colleague's bug, but
I'd guess the same histoire.
Nick
[email protected]
Fabrice Etile
>
> Here is a strange output, which shows that Stata 8 has some
> problems for dealing with inequalities:
> [added comment : continuous is a continuous (formatted
> double) variable in
> the range 0-1.1]
> . ta continuous
>
> continuous | Freq. Percent Cum.
> ------------+-----------------------------------
> 0 | 7,156 92.55 92.55
> .1 | 241 3.12 95.67
> .2 | 150 1.94 97.61
> .3 | 99 1.28 98.89
> .4 | 48 0.62 99.51
> .5 | 23 0.30 99.81
> .6 | 6 0.08 99.88
> .7 | 6 0.08 99.96
> .9 | 2 0.03 99.99
> 1.1 | 1 0.01 100.00
> ------------+-----------------------------------
> Total | 7,732 100.00
>
> . g discrete=(continuous>0.1)
> [added comment : I generate a discrete variable which takes
> value 1 if
> continuous is strictly greater than 0.1]
> . ta continuous discrete
>
> | discrete
> continuous | 0 1 | Total
> -----------+----------------------+----------
> 0 | 7,156 0 | 7,156
> .1 | 0 241 | 241
> .2 | 0 150 | 150
> .3 | 0 99 | 99
> .4 | 0 48 | 48
> .5 | 0 23 | 23
> .6 | 0 6 | 6
> .7 | 0 6 | 6
> .9 | 0 2 | 2
> 1.1 | 0 1 | 1
> -----------+----------------------+----------
> Total | 7,156 576 | 7,732
>
>
> As you can see, observations with continuous==0.1 should have
> discrete==0
> and this is not what happens!!
>
> Has someone an answer to that?
>
> PS: note that one of my colleague showed me a similar bug, so
> that it is not a hardware-related problem.
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