R/rfalling_object.R

In rafalab/dslabs: Data Science Labs

#' Simulate falling object data
#'
#' The function simulates a falling object's position. Default parameters are for dropping a 
#' weight from the tower of Pisa.
#'
#' @param n Sample size
#' @param d_0 Height from which object will fall in meters.
#' @param v_0 Initial velocity with which object will fall in meters per second.
#' @param g Gravitational constant, 9.8 meters per second per seonnd
#' @param scale The measurement errors will be multiplied by this constant.
#' @param time Numeric vector of times, in seconds, at which measurements were taken.
#' @param error_distribution Character. Either \code{rnorm} for normal or \code{rt} for t-distribution.
#' @param df If using t-distribution, the degrees of freedom.
#' 
#' @return A \code{data.frame} with the time, the distance travelled, and the observed distance.
#'
#' @examples
#' 
#' dat <- rfalling_object()
#' with(dat, plot(time, observed_distance))
#' with(dat, lines(time, distance, col = "blue"))
#'
#' @importFrom stats rnorm rt
#' 
#' @export
#'

rfalling_object <- function(n = 14, d_0 = 55.86, v_0 = 0, g = -9.8,  
                           scale = 1,
                           time = seq(0, 3.25, length.out = n),
                           error_distribution = c("rnorm", "rt"),
                           df = 3){
  error_distribution <- match.arg(error_distribution)
  error_func = get(error_distribution)
  
  if(length(time)!=n) stop("length(time) must be equal to n")
  d <- d_0 + v_0 * time + 0.5*g*time^2
  
  if(error_distribution == "rnorm"){
    y <- d  + rnorm(n)*scale
  } else{
    y <- d + rt(n, df = df) * scale
  }
  
  dat <- data.frame(time = time, distance = pmax(d,0), observed_distance = pmax(y,0))
  
  attr(dat, "params")  <- c(d_0 = d_0, v_0 = v_0, g = g, scale = scale)
  attr(dat, "error_distribution") <- error_distribution
  
  dat 
}