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.