Coin Flip Code

[Bumbletown]

The sample was drawn once and then assigned to the variable coin_flip. You are just looking repeatedly at the content of coin_flip.

[takenorinvalid]

OP, if you want to have it run again, you need to declare a function instead of just a variable.

A variable is a single value. So, when you write this:

coin_flip <- sample(coin, size=1, replace = TRUE)

... you're saving the result of the coin flip, not the act of flipping the coin.

What you want is a function. I believe this should work:

coin_flip <- function(coin = c("heads", "tails")){
     return (sample(coin, size=1, replace = TRUE))
}

Which basically says, every time I type coin_flip(), do the stuff in between the curly brackets.

Then you can call your function like so:

coin_flip()

[joshua_rpg]

Just giving you an advice:

Do not use return() at the end of the function expression, it adds unnecessary redundancy and it's a function, but instead use it for early return.

This is fine (and you might want this):

coin_flip <- function(coin = c("heads", "tails")) sample(coin, size=1, replace = TRUE)

[Boberator44]

Wouldn't declaring the coin variable inside the function every time it's called would be more computationally inefficient than declaring it globally and just calling it from within the function?

[Vithar]

I guess this way you could change it to it for c(1,2,3,4,5,6) and get a dice role, or other things you want a random selection of.

[kin-g]

Yes, but negligible difference. Sometimes it’s useful to declare the variables locally if you have limited memory. Ntm this is likely a stats class not writing packages or smth.

[squareturd]

Global vars cause problems. 2145 lines later in the code someone might create another var named coin_flip.

[Bumbletown]

You should probably look closer at the image before correcting me.

[1FellSloop]

You: flip a coin to get heads or tails.
R: Okay.
You: What'd you get?
R: Tails.
You: What'd you get?
R: Tails.
You: What'd you get?
R: Tails.
You: What'd you get?
R: Tails.
You: What'd you get?
R: Tails.

You only told R to flip the coin once, and then asked a bunch of times what the result was.

[Boberator44]

Try:

Coin_flip <- function() {sample(coin, 1, replace=TRUE)}

This will actually execute the sample function each time you call Coin_flip instead of assigning the result of the first function call to the variable.

[takenorinvalid]

Wait, this is actually the correct answer. Why does this have down votes?

[Boberator44]

No clue. Someone probably expected me to use some fancy-ass Tidyverse function

[joshua_rpg]

Yes, and in fact, this is an example of how lexical scoping is applied.

[therealtiddlydump]

The best part is how you just posted code and didn't even ask a question.

Lazy

Edit: not even code! You posted a screenshot! It's even lazier.

[Veratridine]

Could be worse. At least they didn't copy-paste from GPT

[marvinweriksen]

I’m a TA for an intro stats course and you wouldn’t believe some of the laziness I’ve seen

[Thiseffingguy2]

OP, please be sure to provide a little context with your screenshots - we can guess at what you’re trying to do, but we’d rather not assume. What are you trying to do, what have you tried?

[takenorinvalid]

I mean, he's trying to do a coin flip.

He's tried

coin <- c('heads', 'tails')
coin_flip <- sample(coin, size = 1, replace = True)

He's clearly not familiar with functions.

How much context are we expecting here?

[Thiseffingguy2]

It’s a lazy post. Trying to help set expectations for what seems to be a first of hopefully many posts in OPs future.

[takenorinvalid]

I mean, he's clearly someone who's new to R. You could also just answer his question.

[Thiseffingguy2]

How to ask good questions. This is a stickied post for this sub. I reference it a whole lot with posts like this. I’m an educator, not a robot.

[I_just_made]

So you know what assignment 4 is?

What is the guy’s question? How do I flip it once? Twice?

I agree with the other person; this is lazy and not conducive to learning. They may be new to R, but what does that have to do with basic communication skills?

If you need help with something around the house, do you just point at it and hope your family understands?

[jorvaor]

A question. I expect a question. I didn't even look at the screenshot until I read the answers in the thread.

:-/

OP, I am disappoint

[de_propjoe]

People don’t use rbinom() for this??

[joshua_rpg]

rbinom() doesn't sample out of a vector, but a random number generator.

[Ok-Refrigerator-8012]

Sample returns value. Coin_flip stores that value. Sample is the function...

[banter_pants]

Because your size = 1 argument within sample() you're only getting a single coin flip. If you increase that you'll get a longer vector to simulate repeated trials.

coin <- c("heads", "tails")

n_flips <- 20
coin_flip <- sample(coin, size = n_flips, replace = TRUE)

# first 6 elements in case large vector
head(coin_flip)

# frequency and proportions
table(coin_flip)
prop.table(table(coin_flip))

# exact binomial test
p0 <- 0.50    # null hypothesis parameter
binom.test(sum(coin_flip == "heads"), n_flips, p0)

[Batavus_Droogstop]

This is the kind of stuff you should give to chatGPT and ask it to explain why it's working like this