In this lesson, we will introduce you to R, a powerful language for statistical computing and graphics, and RStudio, an integrated development environment (IDE) that makes R easier to use. By the end of this lesson, you will have a basic understanding of what R and RStudio are, how to install them, and how to navigate the RStudio interface.

R is a programming language and free software environment used for statistical computing, data analysis, and graphical representation. It is widely used among statisticians and data miners for developing statistical software and data analysis.

• Open Source: R is free to use and open-source, which means you can modify and distribute it.
• Extensive Libraries: R has a vast collection of packages for various statistical and graphical techniques.
• Active Community: A large and active community contributes to the development and support of R.
• Cross-Platform: R runs on various operating systems, including Windows, macOS, and Linux.

RStudio is an integrated development environment (IDE) for R. It provides a user-friendly interface and tools to make working with R more efficient and productive.

• Script Editor: Write and edit R scripts with syntax highlighting and code completion.
• Console: Execute R commands directly.
• Environment/History: View and manage your workspace and command history.
• Plots: Visualize your data with built-in plotting capabilities.
• Packages: Easily install and manage R packages.

1. Go to the CRAN (Comprehensive R Archive Network) website.
2. Choose your operating system (Windows, macOS, or Linux).
3. Follow the instructions to download and install R.

1. Go to the RStudio website.
2. Download the free version of RStudio Desktop.
3. Follow the instructions to install RStudio.

Once you have installed R and RStudio, open RStudio. The interface is divided into several panes:

• Location: Top-left pane.
• Purpose: Write and edit R scripts. You can save your scripts for future use.

• Location: Bottom-left pane.
• Purpose: Execute R commands directly. This is where you can interact with R in real-time.

• Location: Top-right pane.
• Environment Tab: View and manage the objects in your workspace.
• History Tab: View the history of commands you have executed.

• Location: Bottom-right pane.
• Files Tab: Navigate your file system.
• Plots Tab: View plots generated by your R code.
• Packages Tab: Manage R packages.
• Help Tab: Access R documentation and help files.

Let's create a simple R script to get you started.

1. In RStudio, click on File > New File > R Script.

1. Highlight the code you want to run.
2. Click on the Run button or press Ctrl + Enter (Windows/Linux) or Cmd + Enter (macOS).

• # This is a comment: Comments are ignored by R and are used to explain the code.
• a <- 5: Assigns the value 5 to the variable a.
• b <- 3: Assigns the value 3 to the variable b.
• sum <- a + b: Calculates the sum of a and b and assigns it to the variable sum.
• print(sum): Prints the value of sum to the console.

Write a script to perform the following operations and print the results:

1. Subtract 7 from 15.
2. Multiply 4 by 6.
3. Divide 20 by 4.

Write a script to:

1. Assign the value 10 to a variable x.
2. Assign the value 20 to a variable y.
3. Calculate the product of x and y and assign it to a variable product.
4. Print the value of product.

In this lesson, you learned about R and RStudio, how to install them, and how to navigate the RStudio interface. You also wrote and executed your first R script. These foundational skills will help you as you progress through the course and start working with more complex data analysis tasks. In the next lesson, we will dive into the basic syntax of R.