disingenuous !
Nick
[email protected]
> I am afraid that some of the answer is "Don't do
> this" (e.g. import from Excel) but no doubt that is not a
> practical answer.
>
> Also, the reference to the "actual values" of the variables
> is at best disingenous. Only if the values are integers, and
> in a few other cases, are such values completely unequivocal.
> Only just recently Bill Gould explained at considerable length
> how in practice we are usually talking about the best binary
> approximations.
>
> More positively, there is some advice at
> http://www.stata.com/support/faqs/data/newexcel.html
>
> Although listed as author, I compiled that document in
> self-defence as I was getting questions I couldn't answer
> from colleagues and students who use Excel. (Except for sets
> of measure zero, I don't.) Most of the real details came from
> the people
> also named in the FAQ.
>
> Nick
> [email protected]
>
> [email protected]
>
> > I am using Stata S/E 9.1 for Macintosh.
> >
> > This question concerns the issue of retaining data precision,
> > as it were,
> > when -insheeting- data into Stata from a .csv file and,
> > conversely, when
> > exporting data from Stata via -outsheet-.
> >
> > Suppose I have an Excel file that contains large numbers that are
> > presented as scientific notation. Further suppose that I
> > save said Excel
> > file as a comma-delimited file (.csv) then import into Stata via
> > -insheet-, along w/ the double option. After the insheet, an
> > examination
> > of the data indicates that some degree of precision has been lost --
> > rounding -- even after the variables have been reformatted to
> > reflect the
> > length & desired format (e.g. %20.2fc). One clumsy
> > workaround for this
> > problem involves changing the numeric variable to string via
> > the insertion
> > of commas into the values, -insheet-ing, then -destring-ing
> > the variable
> > back into a numeric variable. As noted, this seems like a terribly
> > cumbersome and clumsy solution -- any suggested alternatives
> > (e.g. using
> > an alternative to -insheet-)??
> >
> > On the flip side, i.e. -outsheet-ing the data back into a
> > .csv file, is it
> > necessary to format any numeric variables into
> non-scientific notation
> > format so as to retain the actual values of the variables?
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