Introduction
To R

Introduction to R, Version 1.3.1

R is a language and environment for statistical computing and graphics. It is a GNU project similar to the S language and environment which was developed at Bell Laboratories by John Chambers and colleagues.

R provides a wide variety of statistical (linear and nonlinear modelling, classical statistical tests, time-series analysis, classification, clustering, ...) and graphical techniques. One of R's strengths is the ease with which well-designed publication-quality plots can be produced, including mathematical symbols and formulae where needed.

R is available as Free Software under the terms of the Free Software Foundation's GNU General Public License in Open Source code form. It compiles and runs out of the box on a wide variety of UNIX platforms and similar systems (including FreeBSD and Linux). It also compiles and runs on Windows 9x/NT/2000 and MacOS.

These web-notes have been adapted from Barry Rowlingson's Splus course notes and will give you a simple start to the environment. Your lecturers and supervisors will be able to help you with specific applications. Further information on the R Project can be found at http://www.r-project.org/.

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