title: Data Manipulation in R: 'X' must be atomic
body: <p>I have imported a file with headings and numbers in multiple columns using the following command.
  <code>irs_data &lt;- read.csv(file="10incyallnoagi.csv")</code></p>
  
  <p>I would like to divide the values in 1 column by another and then determine the highest 3 values.</p>
  
  <pre><code>     salary_var &lt;- c(irs_data[13]/irs_data[12])
       head(sort(new_var, decreasing=TRUE), 3) 
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I keep getting the constant error. As a beginner to <strong>R</strong>, what does it mean "x must be atomic" in this context.</p>
  
  <pre><code>Error in sort.int(x, na.last = na.last, decreasing = decreasing, ...) : 
    'x' must be atomic
  </code></pre>