Re: [R] Positive log-likelihood in lme

[Spencer Graves]

     The "likelihood" is the probability density function, which can be 
greater than 1 for continuous distributions with a fairly narrow 
spread.  For discrete distributions, the density never exceeds 1, in 
which case the log(likelihood) would always be negative(*). 

     hope this helps. 
     spencer graves
(*) If you are using measure-theoretic probability with some 
non-standard measure, it might be possible to get a discrete probability 
density greater than 1.  One might want to use such as a class exercise, 
but I can't think of a real world application for such. 

Peter Alspach wrote:
Kia ora
I'm a using lme (from nlme package) with data similar to the Orthodont dataset and 
am getting positive log-likelihoods (>100).  This seems usual and I wondered if 
someone could offer a possible explanation.
I can supply a sample dataset if requested, but I feel almost certain that this 
question has been asked and answered recently.  However, I can find no trace of 
it in the mail archives (although I have spent several hours reading lots of 
other interesting things :-)).
Thanks .........
Peter Alspach
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