RThe statistics package R is Open Source, which among other things means that it is freely available for students to download and use. First developed in New Zealand, R has a fascinating history and has featured in the New York Times including follow-up. Using RThere are three ways in which you can access R for course work:
You can also use the graphical front-end RStudio (from the Start Menu or the Desktop icon in Mathematics and Statistics labs). PackagesBy itself R is a very capable statistics program, but you'll likely want to install extra packages to provide additional functions. Packages are being developed all the time by the R community and you may wish to access these. Provided R is installed, you can install packages at the R prompt by typing,
If using R under Windows, you can choose Packages->Install package(s) for a list of available R packages. | ![]() |