Home/ Questions/Simple solutions for the error in fun(left, right) : non-numeric argument to binary operator error
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Lou Munoz
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Asked: 2022-05-18T10:51:00+00:00 In:

Simple solutions for the error in fun(left, right) : non-numeric argument to binary operator error

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Here is the program I run:

Transaction <- function(PnL, Day)
  results <- list(a = PnL, b = Day)
  return(results)


 Day <- Transaction(PnL, Day)["b"]


 moving_avg <- function(StockData, MA, CurrentDay){
  #MA = Days long the MA is
  #CurrentDay = What day we are currently on
  MAValue <- NULL
  total <- 0
  start <- CurrentDay - MA
  for(i in 1:length(MA)) {
  total <- total + StockData[[start, 4]]
  start <- start + 1
  }
  MAValue <- total/MA
  return(MAValue)
 }

After I run, it returns an error:

Error in CurrentDay - MA : non-numeric argument to binary operator

Does anyone have any suggestions for the problem below: error in fun(left, right) : non-numeric argument to binary operator in the r – How to correct it?

non-numeric argument to binary operator
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2 Answers

  1. Best Answer
    Expert

    The cause:

    This error occurs because you are trying to perform - as the ‘binary operator’, but CurrentDay or MA is non-numeric, even both of them are non-numeric.

    Solution:

    This error will be solved if you run the following program before your code:

    '+' <- function(e1, e2) {
if (is.character(e1) | is.character(e2)) {
paste0(e1, e2)
} else {
base::`+`(e1, e2)
}
}
    • 7

  2. Your question is not about your function, but rather the error message. I will address it.

    - refers to the ‘binary operator’ that your error is referencing. CurrentDay and MA are both non-numeric.

    Binary operations are calculations that take two values (operands), and produce another value ( refer to Wikipedia for more). + is an example of such an operator. “1 + 1” takes 2 operands (1 & 1) and returns another (2). The produced value doesn’t necessarily differ from the operands, e.g. 1 + 0 = 1.

    R knows only how to apply + and other binary operators such as - to numeric arguments. 

    > 1 + 1
[1] 2
> 1 + 'one'
Error in 1 + "one" : non-numeric argument to binary operator

    If you see this error message, it is likely that you (or the function that you’re calling) are trying to perform a binary operations with something that’s not a number.


    EDIT:

    Your mistake is in using [ rather than [[. Subsetting Day with [ will result in a list and not a numeric vector, since Day can be used as a list. [[ returns however an object of class of the item in the list. 

    > Day <- Transaction(1, 2)["b"]
> class(Day)
[1] "list"
> Day + 1
Error in Day + 1 : non-numeric argument to binary operator

> Day2 <- Transaction(1, 2)[["b"]]
> class(Day2)
[1] "numeric"
> Day2 + 1
[1] 3

    Transaction returns two vectors, as you have defined it. Day, as you can see, returns a list that contains one vector. Day2 is a vector.

    • 14

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