[R] Re gression using age and Duration of disease as a continous factors

[Steve Lianoglou]

On Jul 20, 2009, at 5:30 PM, 1Rnwb wrote:

> I have read that multiple times without understanding anything.

If that's the case, then perhaps you should follow Greg's first piece  
of advice:

> Greg Snow-2 wrote:
>>
>> If you need an explanation of what regression means, then you need  
>> to take
>> a course or 2 at your local university, or at least hire a  
>> statistical
>> consultant.

We're not trying to be rude, but your question is quite ill formed,  
and no one can really help you:

> Please explain me as what it means and how this analysis can be done
> using R and which library(ies) are needed.

It's not clear what you do/don't understand, and your problem  
statement is too vague for anyone to tell you more.

It seems like you're saying you don't understand what "regression" is,  
in which case a simple email will not help you.

"Simply put" regression is a method to predict a (typically)  
"continuous" output by some combination of inputs, eg. predicting  
someone's height by knowing their weight and shoe size (these are  
continuous variables, too). It looks like in your case, your "inputs"  
are the "continuous factors" of your email subject, which are age and  
duration of disease?

You haven't even mentioned what it is you are trying to predict.  
Survival?

The thing is, as soon as one puts something in "simple terms," it's  
often wrong -- which is why Greg suggested taking a class or hiring  
someone to help you.

Anyway, I'm assuming you must know what regression is, otherwise you  
wouldn't be looking to know how to do it. One way to perform linear  
regression in R is using the "lm" function. Type ?lm at the R prompt  
for help.


> I thought this forum is for help. now i know what the statistician  
> in my dept
> does all day long

It is for help -- you'll see it's quite active around here.

It's *not* for soliciting other people to do your analysis for you,  
which is how your email comes across. All of us have our own work to  
do, but are here to help if you're stuck on something *in  
particular* ... perhaps you can do a bit more legwork and rephrase  
your question in a more meaningful way.

-steve

--
Steve Lianoglou
Graduate Student: Physiology, Biophysics and Systems Biology
Weill Medical College of Cornell University

Contact Info: http://cbio.mskcc.org/~lianos/contact