Feeling faint of heart without photos depicting what to do? No worries, here they are.
- Go to the R website and click “Download R” under “Getting Started”
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Feeling faint of heart without photos depicting what to do? No worries, here they are.
I will make a confession. This past summer, I didn’t spend my spare time watching relentlessly addicting TV shows nor clubbing in San Francisco. Instead, I checked out figures. No, not the sort of figures you’re probably thinking about. The ones that are included in research papers and have the potential to be beautiful works of art (such as the ones found on the Figured Foundation). And you guessed it, R can be used to generate awesome figures for your last minute put together presentation or end-of-term paper.
R is a free “environment” that can be used to run statistical analysis and create amazing graphics (a more comprehensive list of R’s superpowers can be found here). It can be installed on Unix, Windows and Apple operating systems. It is considered an “environment” because there tons of add-ons that you can load or write to expand the capabilities of R. In essence, R is a free sports car that you can add rocket power and flying capabilities while still looking cool.
If this is your first time using a form of code, don’t be afraid. Once you get over the hump that R (or any code in general) is relentless about spelling, the process of entering code is no different from choosing the different components of a sundae (do we want strawberries or blueberries as the fruit topping?). And once you get a little more involved, you can start improvising your own crazy creations via the writing of your own functions. This past summer I met a guy that used R to scourge the Travelocity, Priceline, and other airplane ticket finding websites to search for his ideal plane tickets.
My apologies ahead of time, but this will be a Windows-centric tutorial. If you would like step by step instructions with screenshots, click here.