Re: st: Format problem?

["Michael Blasnik" <michael.blasnik@verizon.net>]

> Thank you all for your kind responses. Indeed, using double solved this
> annoying and important problem (the numbers are id numbers of patients). I
> think that double (not float) should be a default setting in STATA. Saving
> some memory is an important issue for only a small percentage of problems.
> Andrzej
In general, it is better to hold IDs as string variables to make sure they 
are exactly what you think they should be -- regardless of how many digits 
they may have or other issues like leading zeros.  The default float vs. 
double issue comes up fairly often.  Perhaps the manuals should highlight 
this issue more and also the fact that you can change the default to double.

Michael Blasnik
michael.blasnik@verizon.net 
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