R中的因子变量及处理

因子用来存储类别变量(categorical variables)和有序变量，这类变量不能用来计算而只能用来分类或
者计数。因子表示分类变量，有序因子表示有序变量。

1、用cut()函数将一般的数据转换成因子或有序因子

例1：

exam <- c(98, 97, 52, 88, 85, 75, 97, 92, 77, 74, 70, 63, 97, 71, 98,
             65, 79, 74, 58, 59, 60, 63, 87, 82, 95, 75, 79, 96, 50, 88)

exam1 <- cut(exam, breaks = 3) #切分成3组, Levels: (50,66] (66,82] (82,98]

exam2 <- cut(exam, breaks = c(0, 59, 69, 79, 89, 100)) #切分成自己设置的组,Levels: (0,59] (59,69] (69,79] (79,89] (89,100]

attr(exam1, 'levels');

[1] "(50,66]" "(66,82]" "(82,98]"

attr(exam2, 'levels');

[1] "(0,59]"   "(59,69]"  "(69,79]"  "(79,89]"  "(89,100]"

attr(exam2, 'class')