Introduction

In this workshop we will do some of the exercises from Chapter 5 of R4DS.

Exercises from 5.2.4

Use a separate code block for each exercise.

summary(flights)
##       year          month             day           dep_time    sched_dep_time
##  Min.   :2013   Min.   : 1.000   Min.   : 1.00   Min.   :   1   Min.   : 106  
##  1st Qu.:2013   1st Qu.: 4.000   1st Qu.: 8.00   1st Qu.: 907   1st Qu.: 906  
##  Median :2013   Median : 7.000   Median :16.00   Median :1401   Median :1359  
##  Mean   :2013   Mean   : 6.549   Mean   :15.71   Mean   :1349   Mean   :1344  
##  3rd Qu.:2013   3rd Qu.:10.000   3rd Qu.:23.00   3rd Qu.:1744   3rd Qu.:1729  
##  Max.   :2013   Max.   :12.000   Max.   :31.00   Max.   :2400   Max.   :2359  
##                                                  NA's   :8255                 
##    dep_delay          arr_time    sched_arr_time   arr_delay       
##  Min.   : -43.00   Min.   :   1   Min.   :   1   Min.   : -86.000  
##  1st Qu.:  -5.00   1st Qu.:1104   1st Qu.:1124   1st Qu.: -17.000  
##  Median :  -2.00   Median :1535   Median :1556   Median :  -5.000  
##  Mean   :  12.64   Mean   :1502   Mean   :1536   Mean   :   6.895  
##  3rd Qu.:  11.00   3rd Qu.:1940   3rd Qu.:1945   3rd Qu.:  14.000  
##  Max.   :1301.00   Max.   :2400   Max.   :2359   Max.   :1272.000  
##  NA's   :8255      NA's   :8713                  NA's   :9430      
##    carrier              flight       tailnum             origin         
##  Length:336776      Min.   :   1   Length:336776      Length:336776     
##  Class :character   1st Qu.: 553   Class :character   Class :character  
##  Mode  :character   Median :1496   Mode  :character   Mode  :character  
##                     Mean   :1972                                        
##                     3rd Qu.:3465                                        
##                     Max.   :8500                                        
##                                                                         
##      dest              air_time        distance         hour      
##  Length:336776      Min.   : 20.0   Min.   :  17   Min.   : 1.00  
##  Class :character   1st Qu.: 82.0   1st Qu.: 502   1st Qu.: 9.00  
##  Mode  :character   Median :129.0   Median : 872   Median :13.00  
##                     Mean   :150.7   Mean   :1040   Mean   :13.18  
##                     3rd Qu.:192.0   3rd Qu.:1389   3rd Qu.:17.00  
##                     Max.   :695.0   Max.   :4983   Max.   :23.00  
##                     NA's   :9430                                  
##      minute        time_hour                  
##  Min.   : 0.00   Min.   :2013-01-01 05:00:00  
##  1st Qu.: 8.00   1st Qu.:2013-04-04 13:00:00  
##  Median :29.00   Median :2013-07-03 10:00:00  
##  Mean   :26.23   Mean   :2013-07-03 05:22:54  
##  3rd Qu.:44.00   3rd Qu.:2013-10-01 07:00:00  
##  Max.   :59.00   Max.   :2013-12-31 23:00:00  
## 

for example: 1. Find all flights that had an arrival delay of two or more hours.

flights %>%
  filter(arr_delay >= 120) %>%
  ggplot() + 
  geom_histogram(aes(x = arr_delay), binwidth = 50)

# note delays are in minutes
  1. Find all United Airline flights to “IAH”. (note this is not exactly of the book exercises.)
flights %>%
  filter( dest == "IAH")
## # A tibble: 7,198 x 19
##     year month   day dep_time sched_dep_time dep_delay arr_time sched_arr_time
##    <int> <int> <int>    <int>          <int>     <dbl>    <int>          <int>
##  1  2013     1     1      517            515         2      830            819
##  2  2013     1     1      533            529         4      850            830
##  3  2013     1     1      623            627        -4      933            932
##  4  2013     1     1      728            732        -4     1041           1038
##  5  2013     1     1      739            739         0     1104           1038
##  6  2013     1     1      908            908         0     1228           1219
##  7  2013     1     1     1028           1026         2     1350           1339
##  8  2013     1     1     1044           1045        -1     1352           1351
##  9  2013     1     1     1114            900       134     1447           1222
## 10  2013     1     1     1205           1200         5     1503           1505
## # ... with 7,188 more rows, and 11 more variables: arr_delay <dbl>,
## #   carrier <chr>, flight <int>, tailnum <chr>, origin <chr>, dest <chr>,
## #   air_time <dbl>, distance <dbl>, hour <dbl>, minute <dbl>, time_hour <dttm>
  1. Find all flights that arrived more than two hours late, but didn’t leave late
flights %>% 
  filter(arr_delay > 2)
## # A tibble: 123,096 x 19
##     year month   day dep_time sched_dep_time dep_delay arr_time sched_arr_time
##    <int> <int> <int>    <int>          <int>     <dbl>    <int>          <int>
##  1  2013     1     1      517            515         2      830            819
##  2  2013     1     1      533            529         4      850            830
##  3  2013     1     1      542            540         2      923            850
##  4  2013     1     1      554            558        -4      740            728
##  5  2013     1     1      555            600        -5      913            854
##  6  2013     1     1      558            600        -2      753            745
##  7  2013     1     1      558            600        -2      924            917
##  8  2013     1     1      559            600        -1      941            910
##  9  2013     1     1      600            600         0      837            825
## 10  2013     1     1      602            605        -3      821            805
## # ... with 123,086 more rows, and 11 more variables: arr_delay <dbl>,
## #   carrier <chr>, flight <int>, tailnum <chr>, origin <chr>, dest <chr>,
## #   air_time <dbl>, distance <dbl>, hour <dbl>, minute <dbl>, time_hour <dttm>
  1. Find all flights that departed between midnight and 6am (inclusive).
flights %>% 
  filter(dep_time <= 600 )
## # A tibble: 9,344 x 19
##     year month   day dep_time sched_dep_time dep_delay arr_time sched_arr_time
##    <int> <int> <int>    <int>          <int>     <dbl>    <int>          <int>
##  1  2013     1     1      517            515         2      830            819
##  2  2013     1     1      533            529         4      850            830
##  3  2013     1     1      542            540         2      923            850
##  4  2013     1     1      544            545        -1     1004           1022
##  5  2013     1     1      554            600        -6      812            837
##  6  2013     1     1      554            558        -4      740            728
##  7  2013     1     1      555            600        -5      913            854
##  8  2013     1     1      557            600        -3      709            723
##  9  2013     1     1      557            600        -3      838            846
## 10  2013     1     1      558            600        -2      753            745
## # ... with 9,334 more rows, and 11 more variables: arr_delay <dbl>,
## #   carrier <chr>, flight <int>, tailnum <chr>, origin <chr>, dest <chr>,
## #   air_time <dbl>, distance <dbl>, hour <dbl>, minute <dbl>, time_hour <dttm>
  1. Why is NA ^ 0 not missing? Why is NA | TRUE not missing? Why is FALSE & NA not missing? Can you figure out the general rule? (NA * 0 is a tricky counterexample!) How does this differ with normal practice in Mathematics?

  2. Find the 5 most delayed flights. (not exactly the same as book)

flights %>% 
  arrange(dep_delay )
## # A tibble: 336,776 x 19
##     year month   day dep_time sched_dep_time dep_delay arr_time sched_arr_time
##    <int> <int> <int>    <int>          <int>     <dbl>    <int>          <int>
##  1  2013    12     7     2040           2123       -43       40           2352
##  2  2013     2     3     2022           2055       -33     2240           2338
##  3  2013    11    10     1408           1440       -32     1549           1559
##  4  2013     1    11     1900           1930       -30     2233           2243
##  5  2013     1    29     1703           1730       -27     1947           1957
##  6  2013     8     9      729            755       -26     1002            955
##  7  2013    10    23     1907           1932       -25     2143           2143
##  8  2013     3    30     2030           2055       -25     2213           2250
##  9  2013     3     2     1431           1455       -24     1601           1631
## 10  2013     5     5      934            958       -24     1225           1309
## # ... with 336,766 more rows, and 11 more variables: arr_delay <dbl>,
## #   carrier <chr>, flight <int>, tailnum <chr>, origin <chr>, dest <chr>,
## #   air_time <dbl>, distance <dbl>, hour <dbl>, minute <dbl>, time_hour <dttm>
  1. Using a helper function, extract all columns concerning time.
select(flights, contains("TIME"))
## # A tibble: 336,776 x 6
##    dep_time sched_dep_time arr_time sched_arr_time air_time time_hour          
##       <int>          <int>    <int>          <int>    <dbl> <dttm>             
##  1      517            515      830            819      227 2013-01-01 05:00:00
##  2      533            529      850            830      227 2013-01-01 05:00:00
##  3      542            540      923            850      160 2013-01-01 05:00:00
##  4      544            545     1004           1022      183 2013-01-01 05:00:00
##  5      554            600      812            837      116 2013-01-01 06:00:00
##  6      554            558      740            728      150 2013-01-01 05:00:00
##  7      555            600      913            854      158 2013-01-01 06:00:00
##  8      557            600      709            723       53 2013-01-01 06:00:00
##  9      557            600      838            846      140 2013-01-01 06:00:00
## 10      558            600      753            745      138 2013-01-01 06:00:00
## # ... with 336,766 more rows
  1. Currently dep_time and sched_dep_time are convenient to look at, but hard to compute with because they’re not really continuous numbers. Convert them to a more convenient representation of number of minutes since midnight. (hint: you may need to make a function and also use modular arithmetic as I mentioned last week.)
tim2min <- function(x) {x %/% 100 * 60 + x %% 100}

9.Compare air_time with arr_time - dep_time. What do you expect to see? What do you see? What do you need to do to fix it?

(convert to mins first)

tim2min <- function(x) {
  x %/% 100 * 60 + x %% 100
}
flights %>%
  select(air_time, arr_time, dep_time) %>% 
  mutate(at = tim2min(arr_time) - tim2min(dep_time), air_conv = tim2min(air_time))
## # A tibble: 336,776 x 5
##    air_time arr_time dep_time    at air_conv
##       <dbl>    <int>    <int> <dbl>    <dbl>
##  1      227      830      517   193      147
##  2      227      850      533   197      147
##  3      160      923      542   221      120
##  4      183     1004      544   260      143
##  5      116      812      554   138       76
##  6      150      740      554   106      110
##  7      158      913      555   198      118
##  8       53      709      557    72       53
##  9      140      838      557   161      100
## 10      138      753      558   115       98
## # ... with 336,766 more rows
  1. Explain the use of the pipe function %>% How does the design of the tidyverse facilitate the use of pipes?

The Pipe function allows you to join multiple operations together.

  1. Brainstorm at least 5 different ways to assess the typical delay characteristics of a group of flights. Consider the following scenarios:
  • A flight is 15 minutes early 50% of the time, and 15 minutes late 50% of the time.
  • A flight is always 10 minutes late.
  • A flight is 30 minutes early 50% of the time, and 30 minutes late 50% of the time.
  • 99% of the time a flight is on time. 1% of the time it’s 2 hours late.
  1. Which is more important: arrival delay or departure delay? It would depend on who you are asking. An airline would most likely prefer flight departure delay because the plane would be full and the airline wouldn’t lose their flight attendants.A flight attendant would most likely prefer flight -