STAT 579: An Introduction to R  

Class meets: Th 12:10 am -- 2:00 pm in: Carver 205

Instructor: Ranjan Maitra (Ron-jone Moi-tro)

Teaching Assistant: Antonio Villenueva

  • Office: tbd
  • Phone: tbd
  • E-mail:antoniov
  • Office Hours: Course Prerequisites:
    1. Concurrent enrolment in Stat 500
    Grading Scheme: Course Syllabus: An introduction to the logic of programming, numerical algorithms, and graphics. The statistical package R will be used to demonstrate how data can be stored, manipulated, plotted, and analyzed using both built-in functions and user extensions. Concepts of modularization, looping, vectorization, conditional execution, and recursion will be emphasized. Statistical Software: The statistical software used throughout this class will be R. R is very similar to Splus but comes under the GNU Public License. It is a comprehensive statistical software package freely available from http://www.R-project.org/. R is developed by a team of international researchers and operates under the GNU Public License and is free. It is very similar, though not the exact same software as the commercially available Splus. Most commands in Splus work with R. All lab machines running Windows and Linux have R installed. Since the software is freely available, you may download it from the above web site and use it on your home computer. You may use either the Windows version or the Unix/Linux version. Please note that your installation of R is at your own risk, though the department systems administrators can perhaps help. You may not use Splus in lieu of R in this class. Homeworks: Homeworks will be handed out every week. This will mostly consist of applying and exploring the concepts learnt in class. A considerable part of the homework will involve programming computer work, but you may also be asked to combine descriptions and present that later on. Course Homepage: The course homepage will be located on the WWW at http://www.public.iastate.edu/~maitra/stat579/fall2007.html. I will try and keep this homepage as up to date as possible. However, you are still responsible for any announcements made in class.