Using R for Introductory Statistics : John Verzani

PrefaceWhat is R?R is a computer language for statistical computing similar to the S language developed atBell Laboratories. The R software was initially written by Ross Ihaka and RobertGentleman in the mid 1990s. Since 1997, the R project has been organized by the RDevelopment Core Team. R is open-source software and is part of the GNU project. R isbeing developed for the Unix, Macintosh, and Windows families of operating systems.The R home page (http://www.r-project.org/) contains more information about R andinstructions for downloading a copy.R is excellent software to use while first learning statistics. It provides a coherent,flexible system for data analysis that can be extended as needed. The open-source natureof R ensures its availability. R’s similarity to S allows you to migrate to the commerciallysupported S-Plus software if desired. Finally, despite its reputation, R is as suitable forstudents learning statistics as it is for researchers using statistics.The purpose of this bookThis book started as a set of notes, titled “simpleR,” that were written to fill a gap indocumentation for using R in an introductory statistics class. The College of Staten Islandhad been paying a per-seat fee to use a commercial statistics program. The cost of theprogram precluded widespread installation and curtailed accessibility. It was determinedthat the students would be better served if they could learn statistics with a softwarepackage that taught them good computer skills at the outset, could be installed all overcampus and at home with relative ease, and was free to use. However, no suitablematerials were available to accompany the class text. Hence, the basis for “simpleR”—aset of notes to accompany an in-class text.Now, as R gains wider acceptance, for pedagogic, style, and economic rea-sons, thereis an increase, but no abundance, in available documentation. The adoption of R as thestatistical software of choice when learning statistics depends on introductory materials.This book aims to serve the needs of students in introductory applied-statistics classesthat are based on precalculus skills. An emphasis is put on finding simple-lookingsolutions, rather than clever ones. Certainly, this material could be covered more quickly(and is in other books such as those by Dalgaard, Fox, and Venables and Ripley). Thegoal here is to make it as accessible to student-learners as possible.This book aims to serve a hybrid purpose: to cover both statistical topics and the Rsoftware. Though the material stands alone, this book is also intended to be useful as anaccompaniment to a standard introductory statistics book.