[Quantian-general] R & Octave

[Robert W. Hayden]

 Forwarded message:
 >  
 > Also, is Octave like MatLab and R like SPSS.  If so, could I just use  a book 
 > on MatLab or SPSS to teach my self these packages?  
 >  
 > I would like to use these packages next year in a computer lab setting with  
 > my AP Calculus BC and AP Physics C (same group) students next year, so any 
 > help  would be most appreciated!
 >  
 > A. Jorge  Garcia
 > _mailto:calcpage at aol.com_ (mailto:calcpage at aol.com) 
 
 Octave could be considered a Matlab clone.  R implements the S
 language, as does S-PLUS, but none of these Quantian packages have
 what I would consider a GUI interface.  So any instuctions you might
 find in books for the commercial software that says "Pull down the
 Calc manu and select..." is going to be irrelevant.   R is like SPSS
 only in that both are stats. packages.  But R is to SPSS as
 Emacs/Scribe is to MS Word;-)  Probably NO SPSS command will work in R.
 
 For the classes you are teaching I would think that a computer algebra
 sstem might be the most appropriate tool.  I think Maxima is included
 in Quantian.  (Look at Yacas as well.)  Maxima is a direct descendant
 of Macsyma.  Some of us think of Maple and Mathematica as Macsyma
 clones;-) 
 
 Matlab and Octave are basicaly matrix computation programs, most at
 home in a linear algebra course (where I have used Octave).  
 
 R is an implementation of a high-level programming language (S) for
 statistical analysis.  I'm not sure it would have much relevance to AP
 Calc. or Physics.  More like AP Stats. or Psychology or Biology.  It
 is not particularly easy to learn so I don't see it as a good tool for
 the occasional stat. calc.  It's more a tool for folks who do that
 sort of thing day in and day out, including all kinds of complex and
 advanced stuff that SPSS or Minitab won't so.  If you really want to
 mess with it look at John Verzani's book or the example pages at
 
      http://courses.statistics.com/software/help.php
 
 The latter can give you a quick feel for what R is and how it looks to
 the user, at no cost.  There is an R Commander semi-GUI for R that can
 be helpful to students.
 
 
 ------->  First-time AP Stats. teacher?  Help is on the way! See
 
  http://courses.ncssm.edu/math/Stat_Inst/Stats2007/Bob%20Hayden/Relief.html
 	    
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