Using R for Introductory Statistics [Hardcover]

John Verzani (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1584884509 | ISBN-13: 978-1584884507 | Publication Date: November 29, 2004 | Edition: 1

The cost of statistical computing software has precluded many universities from installing these valuable computational and analytical tools. R, a powerful open-source software package, was created in response to this issue. It has enjoyed explosive growth since its introduction, owing to its coherence, flexibility, and free availability. While it is a valuable tool for students who are first learning statistics, proper introductory materials are needed for its adoption.

Using R for Introductory Statistics fills this gap in the literature, making the software accessible to the introductory student. The author presents a self-contained treatment of statistical topics and the intricacies of the R software. The pacing is such that students are able to master data manipulation and exploration before diving into more advanced statistical concepts. The book treats exploratory data analysis with more attention than is typical, includes a chapter on simulation, and provides a unified approach to linear models.

This text lays the foundation for further study and development in statistics using R. Appendices cover installation, graphical user interfaces, and teaching with R, as well as information on writing functions and producing graphics. This is an ideal text for integrating the study of statistics with a powerful computational tool.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The author has made a very serious effort to introduce entry-level students of statistics to the open-source software package R. One mistake most authors of similar texts make is to assume some basic level of familiarity, either with the subject to be taught, or the tool (the software package) to be used in teaching the subject. This book does not fall into either trap. … the examples and exercises are well-chosen …
—MAA Reviews, October 2010

…The book presents each new concept in a gentle manner. Numerous examples serve to illustrate both the R commands and the general statistical concepts. … Every chapter contains sample code for plotting … The book also has a rich supply of homework problems that are straightforward and data-focused … Overall, I found the book enjoyable to read. Even as an experienced user of R, I learned a few things. … Without hesitation I would use it for an introductory statistics course or an introduction to R for a general audience. Indeed, Verzani's book may prove a useful travel guide through the sometimes exasperating territory of statistical computing.
—E. Andres Houseman (Harvard School of Public Health), Statistics in Medicine, Vol. 26, 2007

This book sets out to kill two birds with one stone-introducing R and statistics at the same time. The author accomplishes his twin goals by presenting an easy-to-follow narrative mixed with R codes, formulae, and graphs … [He] clearly has a great command of R, and uses its strength and versatility to achieve statistical goals that cannot be easily reached otherwise … this book contains a cornucopia of information for beginners in statistics who want to learn a computer language that is positioned to take the statistics world by storm.
—Significance, September 2005

Anyone who has struggled to produce his or her own notes to help students use R will appreciate this thorough, careful and complete guide aimed at beginning students.
—Journal of Statistical Software, November 2005

This is an ideal text for integrating the study of statistics with a powerful computation tool.
—Zentralblatt MATH

Product Details

• Hardcover: 432 pages
• Publisher: Chapman and Hall/CRC; 1 edition (November 29, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1584884509
• ISBN-13: 978-1584884507
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #44,425 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Often overlooked but solid title, February 27, 2005

By 

Bacon Tastes Good (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Using R for Introductory Statistics (Hardcover)

This book doesn't show up under most listings for books about R, but it should. It's a very solid introduction to using R -- including installation, configuration, and some progrmaming -- for basic statistical work. My only complaint is that it wasn't quite comprehensive enough -- not enough examples were given and not enough discussion on important functions and parameters were present. Also, the index is atrocious.

I would recommend it as a good book to get going, but for in depth work you'll be referring to the HTML help a lot.

37 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars best overall introduction to statistics using R, May 8, 2007

By 

kleytos "kleytos" (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Using R for Introductory Statistics (Hardcover)

This book is an excellent introduction to basic statistics, not assuming a knowledge of calculus, using an intuitive "hands-on approach" using the free computer program R. Statistics should be learned with the fingers on a computer, not merely by memorizing formulas, so you do well to learn statistics with a book in one hand, sitting in front of a computer. John Verzani gives a gentle introduction to statistics using R.

For those unaware, R is a complete, very powerful statistics program that was developed in the 1990s based on an early language called S/Splus, created by John Chambers in the 1970s. S/Splus is an extremely powerful language for doing statistics / numerical research, and was developed explicitly for that purpose. It is far stronger than Matlab for statistical data analysis. R has a vibrant online community with hundreds of free add-on packages (available from the CRAN website). R has grown to be much more powerful than SPSS or SAS in recent years, and is becoming the tool of choice by the experts in the field. It's suitable for beginners too, but doesn't have the point and click style of simpler programs.

There are three main books that are introductions to R. One by Verzani (reviewed here), one by Dalgaard, and one by Crawley. Of the three, I find this one to be the best. It is the most clearly organized and has the best logical presentation of the three. It goes into the right amount of depth without getting bogged down. You can work through all the exercises in the book because the datasets are freely downloadable from the web.

Be sure to do as many of the exercises in the book as you can -- that will really help you to learn statistics well!

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Poorly organized and frustrating, July 23, 2007

By 

Anonymous "Anonymous" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Using R for Introductory Statistics (Hardcover)

In an introductory book, it is really important to present concepts in order. This book fails on this count. On more than one occasion, a concept (e.g., "trimmed mean") or a function (e.g., "range(x)") is mentioned without being defined, only to be presented as new later on. This is very frustrating and prevents a new student from working through the book fast. As some other reviewers remarked, the index is a complete disaster, which only makes this worse. It is nice that the book comes with a package of problems. The package lacks answers to most of these problems, though, so one can't check progress easily.

Look elsewhere.