Introduction to R
Grinnell College
January 26, 2024
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Why R?
First and foremost, this is not an R course
R gives us an accessible way to access data that is otherwise too large to
manage
Increasingly prevelant in variety of domains, including here at Grinnell
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Lab Today
Two parts:
1. R Markdown
▶ Knit to PDF
▶ Markdown formatting (headers, bold/italics, etc)
▶ Code chunks
2. Intro to R
▶ Elements of R
▶ Data frames
▶ Data basics
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Using R Markdown
R Markdown describes a specific type of file that is used in R (.Rmd)
Uses markdown language to easily add headers, or write things in bold or
italics
Alongside written text allows us to write and compute R code
Can be knit into pdf and submitted to gradescope
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Basic Elements of R
1. Vectors
▶ Like variables, all of one type
▶ Can be short or long
2. Data frames
▶ Shaped like a square table
▶ Rows are observations, columns are variables (vectors)
3. Functions
▶ Prewritten pieces of code
▶ Useful for performing common tasks
▶ Often take vectors or data frames as arguments
▶ Things like mean(), sqrt() or plot()
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How is data stored in R?
Data in R is stored by assigning it to a name using <-
We can see all of the names we have assigned in the environment tab in
the top right of RStudio
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How is data stored in R?
Once names have been assigned, we can use just as we would their
assigned values
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Data in Practice
We often uses a tabular form to store observations (rows) and variables
(columns). This makes it simple to add or remove observations and
variables with relative ease
Total Bill Tip Sex Smoker Day Time Size
13.42 1.58 Male Yes Fri Lunch 2
16.27 2.50 Female Yes Fri Lunch 2
10.09 2.00 Female Yes Fri Lunch 2
20.45 3.00 Male No Sat Dinner 4
13.28 2.72 Male No Sat Dinner 2
22.12 2.88 Female Yes Sat Dinner 2
24.01 2.00 Male Yes Sat Dinner 4
15.69 3.00 Male Yes Sat Dinner 3
11.61 3.39 Male No Sat Dinner 2
10.77 1.47 Male No Sat Dinner 2
15.53 3.00 Male Yes Sat Dinner 2
10.07 1.25 Male No Sat Dinner 2
12.60 1.00 Male Yes Sat Dinner 2
32.83 1.17 Male Yes Sat Dinner 2
35.83 4.67 Female No Sat Dinner 3
29.03 5.92 Male No Sat Dinner 3
27.18 2.00 Female Yes Sat Dinner 2
22.67 2.00 Male Yes Sat Dinner 2
17.82 1.75 Male No Sat Dinner 2
18.78 3.00 Female No Thur Dinner 2
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Data in Practice
In R, tabular data is typically stored as a [Link]
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Go forth and conquer
1. Find lab on course website
2. Do it
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