Using R for Introductory Statistics

Bol

The second edition of a bestselling textbook, Using R for Introductory Statistics guides students through the basics of R, helping them overcome the sometimes steep learning curve. The author does this by breaking the material down into small, task-oriented steps. The second edition maintains the features that made the first edition so popular, while updating data, examples, and changes to R in line with the current version. See What’s New in the Second Edition: Increased emphasis on more idiomatic R provides a grounding in the functionality of base R. Discussions of the use of RStudio helps new R users avoid as many pitfalls as possible. Use of knitr package makes code easier to read and therefore easier to reason about. Additional information on computer-intensive approaches motivates the traditional approach. Updated examples and data make the information current and topical. The book has an accompanying package, UsingR, available from CRAN, R’s repository of user-contributed packages. The package contains the data sets mentioned in the text (data(package="UsingR")), answers to selected problems (answers()), a few demonstrations (demo()), the errata (errata()), and sample code from the text. The topics of this text line up closely with traditional teaching progression; however, the book also highlights computer-intensive approaches to motivate the more traditional approach. The authors emphasize realistic data and examples and rely on visualization techniques to gather insight. They introduce statistics and R seamlessly, giving students the tools they need to use R and the information they need to navigate the sometimes complex world of statistical computing.

Bol Partner

The cost of statistical computing software has precluded many universities from installing these valuable computational and analytical tools. R, a powerful open-source software package, was created in response to this issue. It has enjoyed explosive growth since its introduction, owing to its coherence, flexibility, and free availability. While it is a valuable tool for students who are first learning statistics, proper introductory materials are needed for its adoption. Using R for Introductory Statistics fills this gap in the literature, making the software accessible to the introductory student. The author presents a self-contained treatment of statistical topics and the intricacies of the R software. The pacing is such that students are able to master data manipulation and exploration before diving into more advanced statistical concepts. The book treats exploratory data analysis with more attention than is typical, includes a chapter on simulation, and provides a unified approach to linear models. This text lays the foundation for further study and development in statistics using R. Appendices cover installation, graphical user interfaces, and teaching with R, as well as information on writing functions and producing graphics. This is an ideal text for integrating the study of statistics with a powerful computational tool.