The Power of R

R hits the NYT.

To some people R is just the 18th letter of the alphabet. To others, it’s the rating on racy movies, a measure of an attic’s insulation or what pirates in movies say.

R is also the name of a popular programming language used by a growing number of data analysts inside corporations and academia. It is becoming their lingua franca partly because data mining has entered a golden age, whether being used to set ad prices, find new drugs more quickly or fine-tune financial models. Companies as diverse as Google, Pfizer, Merck, Bank of America, the InterContinental Hotels Group and Shell use it.

Well, with a start like that. I mean, “a measure of an attic’s insulation”? “What pirates say in movies”?

For those looking for a starting point: Verzani’s website to accompany his “Using R for Introductory Statistics“.

Hat tip to ADM.