This function just calls ns() from the splines package.

ns(x, df = NULL, knots = NULL, intercept = FALSE, Boundary.knots = range(x))

## Arguments

x

the predictor variable. Missing values are allowed.

df

degrees of freedom. One can supply df rather than knots; ns() then chooses df - 1 - intercept knots at suitably chosen quantiles of x (which will ignore missing values). The default, df = NULL, sets the number of inner knots as length(knots).

knots

breakpoints that define the spline. The default is no knots; together with the natural boundary conditions this results in a basis for linear regression on x. Typical values are the mean or median for one knot, quantiles for more knots. See also Boundary.knots.

intercept

if TRUE, an intercept is included in the basis; default is FALSE.

Boundary.knots

boundary points at which to impose the natural boundary conditions and anchor the B-spline basis (default the range of the data). If both knots and Boundary.knots are supplied, the basis parameters do not depend on x. Data can extend beyond Boundary.knots