Descriptive Statistics in R Programming
Introduction
Descriptive statistics summarize and provide insights into data. In R, functions such as mean(), median(), sd(), and quantile() help calculate these statistics. This tutorial provides step-by-step examples.
1. Mean
The mean() function calculates the average of a numeric vector.
Example:
# Calculate mean
data <- c(10, 20, 30, 40, 50)
average <- mean(data)
print(average)
2. Median
The median() function calculates the middle value of a numeric vector when sorted.
Example:
# Calculate median
data <- c(10, 20, 30, 40, 50)
mid_value <- median(data)
print(mid_value)
3. Standard Deviation
The sd() function calculates the standard deviation, which measures data spread.
Example:
# Calculate standard deviation
data <- c(10, 20, 30, 40, 50)
std_dev <- sd(data)
print(std_dev)
4. Quantiles
The quantile() function calculates the quantiles of a numeric vector, including quartiles.
Example:
# Calculate quantiles
data <- c(10, 20, 30, 40, 50)
quants <- quantile(data)
print(quants)
5. Summary Function
The summary() function provides a quick overview of descriptive statistics for a numeric vector.
Example:
# Get summary statistics
data <- c(10, 20, 30, 40, 50)
summary_stats <- summary(data)
print(summary_stats)
Conclusion
R provides several functions to compute descriptive statistics, allowing you to summarize data effectively. Use these functions to gain insights into your datasets.