Relative frequencies / proportions with dplyr

Question

Suppose I want to calculate the proportion of different values within each group. For example, using the mtcars data, how do I calculate the relative f

Answer 1

I wrote a small function for this repeating task:

count_pct <- function(df) {
  return(
    df %>%
      tally %>% 
      mutate(n_pct = 100*n/sum(n))
  )
}

I can then use it like:

mtcars %>% 
  group_by(cyl) %>% 
  count_pct

It returns:

# A tibble: 3 x 3
    cyl     n n_pct
  <dbl> <int> <dbl>
1     4    11  34.4
2     6     7  21.9
3     8    14  43.8

Answer 2

You can use count() function, which has however a different behaviour depending on the version of dplyr:

• dplyr 0.7.1: returns an ungrouped table: you need to group again by am

• dplyr < 0.7.1: returns a grouped table, so no need to group again, although you might want to ungroup() for later manipulations

dplyr 0.7.1

mtcars %>%
  count(am, gear) %>%
  group_by(am) %>%
  mutate(freq = n / sum(n))

dplyr < 0.7.1

mtcars %>%
  count(am, gear) %>%
  mutate(freq = n / sum(n))

This results into a grouped table, if you want to use it for further analysis, it might be useful to remove the grouped attribute with ungroup().

Answer 3

Here is a general function implementing Henrik's solution on dplyr 0.7.1.

freq_table <- function(x, 
                       group_var, 
                       prop_var) {
  group_var <- enquo(group_var)
  prop_var  <- enquo(prop_var)
  x %>% 
    group_by(!!group_var, !!prop_var) %>% 
    summarise(n = n()) %>% 
    mutate(freq = n /sum(n)) %>% 
    ungroup
}

Answer 4

Here is a base R answer using aggregate and ave :

df1 <- with(mtcars, aggregate(list(n = mpg), list(am = am, gear = gear), length))
df1$prop <- with(df1, n/ave(n, am, FUN = sum))
#Also with prop.table
#df1$prop <- with(df1, ave(n, am, FUN = prop.table))
df1

#  am gear  n      prop
#1  0    3 15 0.7894737
#2  0    4  4 0.2105263
#3  1    4  8 0.6153846
#4  1    5  5 0.3846154 

---

We can also use prop.table but the output displays differently.

prop.table(table(mtcars$am, mtcars$gear), 1)
   
#            3         4         5
#  0 0.7894737 0.2105263 0.0000000
#  1 0.0000000 0.6153846 0.3846154

Answer 5

Despite the many answers, one more approach which uses prop.table in combination with dplyr or data.table.

library("dplyr")
mtcars %>%
    group_by(am, gear) %>%
    summarise(n = n()) %>%
    mutate(freq = prop.table(n))

library("data.table")
cars_dt <- as.data.table(mtcars)
cars_dt[, .(n = .N), keyby = .(am, gear)][, freq := prop.table(n) , by = "am"]

Answer 6

@Henrik's is better for usability as this will make the column character and no longer numeric but matches what you asked for...

mtcars %>%
  group_by (am, gear) %>%
  summarise (n=n()) %>%
  mutate(rel.freq = paste0(round(100 * n/sum(n), 0), "%"))

##   am gear  n rel.freq
## 1  0    3 15      79%
## 2  0    4  4      21%
## 3  1    4  8      62%
## 4  1    5  5      38%

EDIT Because Spacedman asked for it :-)

as.rel_freq <- function(x, rel_freq_col = "rel.freq", ...) {
    class(x) <- c("rel_freq", class(x))
    attributes(x)[["rel_freq_col"]] <- rel_freq_col
    x
}

print.rel_freq <- function(x, ...) {
    freq_col <- attributes(x)[["rel_freq_col"]]
    x[[freq_col]] <- paste0(round(100 * x[[freq_col]], 0), "%")   
    class(x) <- class(x)[!class(x)%in% "rel_freq"]
    print(x)
}

mtcars %>%
  group_by (am, gear) %>%
  summarise (n=n()) %>%
  mutate(rel.freq = n/sum(n)) %>%
  as.rel_freq()

## Source: local data frame [4 x 4]
## Groups: am
## 
##   am gear  n rel.freq
## 1  0    3 15      79%
## 2  0    4  4      21%
## 3  1    4  8      62%
## 4  1    5  5      38%