A Glorified calculator

At it’s simplest, R is a very fancy calculator

1 + 1
[1] 2
2 - 3
[1] -1
6 / 2
[1] 3
3 * 4
[1] 12

These basic operators form the basis for more complex calculations that are expressed slightly differently.

sqrt(9)
[1] 3
log10(100)
[1] 2

R can also string numbers together

1:10
 [1]  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10

And groups of numbers can be calculated if the groups are multiples of each other

1:10 + 11:20
 [1] 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30
2 * 1:10
 [1]  2  4  6  8 10 12 14 16 18 20
1:2 * 1:10
 [1]  1  4  3  8  5 12  7 16  9 20

Calculate the result of 3 + 2 * 6, calculating the addition before multiplication

Take the square root of 20 * 5

Calculate the log base 2 of 16

Take the square root of the numbers 1 through 10

(3 + 2) * 6
[1] 30
sqrt(20 * 5)
[1] 10
log2(16)
[1] 4