The ".bin" is a binary file storing the matrix entries, which can be
the N x N symmetric matrix in full
the lower triangle with diagonal
the lower triangle w/o diagonal
,
saved as either single or double precision.
The ".id" a text file of family ID (FID) and individual ID (IID) in two
columns. by default, IID is used as matix row and column names.
PLINK option --make-red bin
, --distance bin
, and GCTA option
--make-grm
all creats binary symmetric matrices, widely used in linear
mixed model or kernel based models for genetics.