[R] Factor tutorial?

[rkevinburton at charter.net]

This is probably a very basic question. I want to understand factors but I am not sure where to turn. Looking up factor in the Chambers book doesn't even show up in the index. Maybe I am just slow but ?factor doesn't help either. Would someone please point me to a very basic tutorial where I can see what the usefullness of factors is (so far they have just gotten in the way).

Thank you.

Kevin