Graphing Data with R: An Introduction

Complex relationships are often more easily grasped by looking at a picture, or a graph, than they might be if one tried to absorb the nuances in a verbal description or discern the relationships in columns of numbers. This book is about using graphical methods to understand complex data by highlighting important relationships and trends, reducing the data to simpler forms, and making it possible to take in a lot of numbers at a glance.

The tool set used to accomplish the task is the free programming language and library of programs called “R.” The book explains, in plain language, how to download R to a Windows, Mac, or Linux computer, how to enter your own data or to copy publicly available data from many web sites, and how to understand, use, and produce effective graphs.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. R Basics
Chapter 2. An Overview of R Graphics
Chapter 3. Strip chart
Chapter 5. Box plots
Chapter 6. Stem-and-leaf plots
Chapter 7. Histograms
Chapter 8. Kernel Density Plots
Chapter 9. Bar Plot (Bar Chart)
Chapter 10. Pie Charts
Chapter 11. Rug Plot
Appendix A R Colors
Appendix C The R Commander GUI (Graphical User Interface)
Appendix D Packages Used/Referenced
Appendix E
Appendix G. Troubleshooting: Why doesn’t my code work?
Appendix H. R Functions introduced in this book