Error: requires numeric/complex matrix/vector arguments when using matrix times vector multiplication

Question

This is my code:

indices <- as.matrix(sapply(cpi_calc[2:nrow(cpi_calc), 1:ncol(cpi_calc)], as.numeric))  
weigths <- as.matrix(sapply(cpi_calc[1, 1:ncol(cpi_calc)], as.numeric))
CPI77_82 <- indices %*% weights

I want to calculate a CPI with a index matrix and a weights vector. Both matrix and vector appear as num in the variable window. I have no clue why the heck the matrix multiplication doesn't work.

Error in indices %*% weights : 
  requires numeric/complex matrix/vector arguments

And I know there are a lot of other similar questions out there, but my code seems fine for me and I tried all the answers to other similar questions. please help! :)

Edit:

 > cpi_calc[2:6, 1:6]
# A tibble: 5 x 6
    X__1   X__2   X__3   X__4   X__5   X__6
   <dbl>  <dbl>  <dbl>  <dbl>  <dbl>  <dbl>
1 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00
2  99.99 100.00 100.07 100.01 100.80 101.59
3  99.52  99.58  99.94 100.01 101.03 101.38
4  99.46  99.44  99.85 100.01 101.03 101.03
5  99.13  99.37  99.79  99.97 101.00 101.82

> t(cpi_calc[1, 1:6])
      [,1]
X__1 0.358
X__2 0.359
X__3 0.060
X__4 0.419
X__5 0.191
X__6 0.296

Could you provide a small input sample and the desired result? And BTW, are you sure you don't simply want indices * weights ? This would make sense for CPI calculations using weights — Pierre Lapointe
well, the data is quite big. the indices matrix is 64x111 and the weights vector is 111x1 i could upload the data on google.sheets if that helps? — yaennu
A 5x6 indices matrix and 6x1 weight matrix would work for this question. — Pierre Lapointe
The error you get is usually when one of the tables is a data.frame. I see that your code uses as.matrix, but double check str(indices) and and str(weights). — Pierre Lapointe

Pierre Lapointe Pierre Lapointe · Accepted Answer · 2017-11-24T14:56:10

This works fine. You must have some NAs in your cpi_calc table. Try na.omit(cpi_calc)

cpi_calc <- read.table(text="0.358  0.359   0.06    0.419   0.191   0.296
100 100 100 100 100 100
99.99   100 100.07  100.01  100.8   101.59
99.52   99.58   99.94   100.01  101.03  101.38
99.46   99.44   99.85   100.01  101.03  101.03
99.13   99.37   99.79   99.97   101 101.82",header=FALSE)

as.matrix(cpi_calc[2:6, 1:6]) %*% t(cpi_calc[1, 1:6])
         1
2 168.3000
3 168.9282
4 168.5832
5 168.4024
6 168.4669

Error: requires numeric/complex matrix/vector arguments when using matrix times vector multiplication

1 Answers