On Thu, Mar 17, 2011 at 10:01 AM, derek <jan.kac...@gmail.com> wrote: > It states summary.lm: > > r.squared R^2, the ‘fraction of variance explained by the model’, > > R^2 = 1 - Sum(R[i]^2) / Sum((y[i]- y*)^2), > > where y* is the mean of y[i] if there is an intercept and zero otherwise. > > Why to use different formula when intercept is set to zero?
Multiple reasons (or ways to state the same reason) 1) Otherwise the r^2 could be negative 2) If you set the slope to zero in the model with a line through the origin you get fitted values y*=0 3) The model with constant, non-zero mean is not nested in the model with a line through the origin. All these come down to saying that if you know a priori that E[Y]=0 when x=0 then the `null' model to compare to the fitted line, the model where x doesn't explain any of the variance, is the model where E[Y]=0 everywhere. If you don't know a priori that E[Y]=0 when x=0 you shouldn't be fitting a line through the origin. -thomas -- Thomas Lumley Professor of Biostatistics University of Auckland ______________________________________________ R-help@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.