[R] Making a case for using R in Academia

[rolf at math.unb.ca]

I would just like to add a comment to this thread that a good reason
to use R is that it's so ***EASY*** to use!  You can get R to do what
***you*** want.

E.g.  I want to set my students an exercise in which they simulate a
data set from a certain distribution (using the inverse probability
transform), plot a histogram of the resulting data on a density scale,
and then superimpose a graph of the probability density function.
The class I am teaching uses Minitab (which is a pretty good package,
but ....).  The last item --- superimpose a graph --- CANNOT be done
in Minitab.  Fitted densities from a list specified by Minitab can be
superimposed, but not a density that you have specified which is off
that list.  It's incredibly frustrating.

In R, of course, it's so easy that falling off a log is difficult
by comparison.

					cheers,

						Rolf Turner
						rolf at math.unb.ca