Remove duplicates keeping entry with largest absolute value

Question

Let\'s say I have four samples: id=1, 2, 3, and 4, with one or more measurements on each of those samples:

> a <- data.frame(id=c(1,1,2,2,3,4), value=c         


        

Answer 1

Here is a dplyr approach

library(dplyr)
a %>% 
        group_by(id) %>%
        top_n(1, abs(value))

# A tibble: 4 x 2
# Groups:   id [4]
#     id value
#  <dbl> <dbl>
#1     1     2
#2     2    -4
#3     3    -5
#4     4     6