How to vectorize a function

[fredoxvii]

Hello,

I have been using R for 6 years, but I still do not understand what it means to vectorize a function. I have read a lot about it, yet I feel that I don't know how to implement it. I know that it makes the code run faster, which is why I'm interested to learn.

Can you explain what vectorize a function means? Can you provide a clear examples?

P.S. can someone add vectorize as a tag?

Thank you!

[lars]

And maybe you'll find the example provided in this topic How to Vectorize a function in R RStudio helpful as well.

How to Vectorize a function in R RStudio

I think your initial function had an error but we can also simplify this and avoid a loop. First, I'll show you what I think you meant originally and then a vectorized version. funct.x <- function(x, x1, x2) { result = rep(NA, length(x)) for(n in 1:length(x)) { result[n] = x[n]*x1[n]+(1 -x[n])*x2[n] }#end for loop return(result) }#end of function funct.x.vectorized <- function(x, x1, x2) { x*x1+(1-x)*x2 } funct.x(c(0.1, 0.2, 0.3), c(1,2,3), c(4,5,6)) #> [1] 3.7 4.4 5.1 funct.x.vectorized(c(0.1, 0.2, 0.3), c(1,2,3), c(4,5,6)) #> [1] 3.7 4.4 5.1 c(0.1*1 + 0.9*4, 0.2*2 + 0.8*5, 0.3*3 + 0.7*6) #> [1] 3.7 4.4 5.1 Created on 2019-12-01 by the reprex package (v0.3.0)

[joels]

You might find chapters 3 (Failing to Vectorize) and 4 (Over-vectorizing) of the R Inferno helpful.