R

What: R is a powerful programming language and software environment primarily used for statistical computing and graphics. It provides a wide variety of statistical and graphical techniques, making it ideal for data analysis and visualization.

When:

• Use R when dealing with large datasets that require complex statistical analysis.
• Use R for data visualization, especially for creating interactive and publication-quality graphics.
• R is commonly used in academic research, finance, and healthcare industries for data analysis and modeling.

Access: Free! You can download R here. You’ll also want to download RStudio, which is a visual IDE (integrated development environment) to help you code in.

Example: Writing the formula for a marginal probability density (y) and plotting it using R.

  
    x <- seq(-5, 10, length = 200)
    y <- 0.2 * dnorm(x, mean=1, sd=2) + 0.8 * dnorm(x, mean=2, sd=2)
    plot(x, y, type='l', xlab='y', ylab='freq')