Difference between generating a variable

[Anda Gromova]

Hi, I´m a begginer in Stata.

What is the difference, if there is, if I create a variable this way:

gen noactiva=(situacionact==2|situacionact==3|situacio nact==4|situacionact==5|situacionact==6)

or this way:

gen noactiva=(situacionact2+situacionact3+situacionact 4+situacionact5+situacionact6) , where situacionact2-situacionact6 are the dummies created with a command "tab situacionact, gen(situacionact)".

Thanks a million,
Anda.

[Nick Cox]

Given (0, 1) variables the first yields a maximum (and so possible results are only 0 or 1) and the second yields a sum, so possible results vary from 0 to 5 in principle.