This function is a constructor for the varExp class,
  representing an exponential variance function structure. Letting
  \(v\) denote the variance covariate and \(\sigma^2(v)\)
  denote the variance function evaluated at \(v\), the exponential
  variance function is defined as \(\sigma^2(v) = \exp(2\theta
    v)\), where \(\theta\) is the variance
  function coefficient. When a grouping factor is present, a different
  \(\theta\) is used for each factor level.
varExp(value, form, fixed)an optional numeric vector, or list of numeric values,
    with the variance function coefficients. Value must have
    length one, unless a grouping factor is specified in form.
    If value has length greater than one, it must have names
    which identify its elements to the levels of the grouping factor
    defined in form. If a grouping factor is present in
    form and value has length one, its value will be
    assigned to all grouping levels. Default is numeric(0), which
    results in a vector of zeros of appropriate length being assigned to
    the coefficients when object is initialized (corresponding
    to constant variance equal to one).
an optional one-sided formula of the form ~ v, or
    ~ v | g, specifying a variance covariate v and,
    optionally, a grouping factor g for the coefficients. The
    variance covariate must evaluate to a numeric vector and may involve
    expressions using ".", representing  a fitted model object
    from which fitted values (fitted(.)) and residuals
    (resid(.)) can be extracted (this allows the variance
    covariate to be updated during the optimization of an object
    function). When a grouping factor is present in form,
    a different coefficient value is used for each of its
    levels. Several grouping variables may be
    simultaneously specified, separated by the * operator, like
    in ~ v | g1 * g2 * g3. In this case, the levels of each
    grouping variable are pasted together and the resulting factor is
    used to group the observations. Defaults to ~ fitted(.)
    representing a variance covariate given by the fitted values of a
    fitted model object and no grouping factor.
an optional numeric vector, or list of numeric values,
    specifying the values at which some or all of the  coefficients in
    the variance function should be fixed. If a grouping factor is
    specified in form, fixed must have names identifying
    which coefficients are to be fixed. Coefficients included in
    fixed are not allowed to vary during the optimization of an
    objective function. Defaults to NULL, corresponding to no
    fixed coefficients.
a varExp object representing an exponential variance function
  structure, also inheriting from class varFunc.
Pinheiro, J.C., and Bates, D.M. (2000) "Mixed-Effects Models in S and S-PLUS", Springer.
# NOT RUN {
vf1 <- varExp(0.2, form = ~age|Sex)
# }
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