[R] MySql Versus R

[Henri Mone]

Dear R Users,

I use for my data crunching a combination of MySQL and GNU R. I have
to handle huge/ middle seized data which is stored in a MySql
database, R executes a SQL command to fetch the data and does the
plotting with the build in R plotting functions.

The (low level) calculations like summing, dividing, grouping, sorting
etc. can be done either with the sql command on the MySQL side or on
the R side.
My question is what is faster for this low level calculations / data
rearrangement MySQL or R? Is there a general rule of thumb what to
shift to the MySql side and what to the R side?

Thanks
Henri