[R] How to Describe R to Finance People

[Barry Rowlingson]

Ko-Kang Kevin Wang wrote:

> It is not only used by statisticians or scientists,
> but also econometricians and people in finance due to its cost (FREE)
> and its powerfulness.

  I think 'power' is preferable here to 'powerfulness'! Never use a big 
word when a diminutive one will do.

> Although it has a slightly higher learning curve than SPSS-like

  We're usually more concerned with the first derivative of the learning 
curve than its intercept. Better to say R has a steeper initial learning 
curve. Maybe plot one out in R?

> I have never had experience of trying to introduce R to
> non-Scientists, hence I would appreciate any comments!

  I'd stress how having a programming language as part of your stats 
package encourages free exploration of your data. You're not constrained 
to the dialogs and buttons and menus of your average stats package.

  You could also stress the other part of the 'free' aspect of R, in 
that you are free to use and abuse it almost at will, and you'll never 
be in a position where you can't run some version of R. Yes, I've had a 
user this morning want to recover something from an Splus .Data directory...

Enjoy spreading the word,

Barry