A basic data structure in R for storing a grouping of items of the same data type is called a vector. R vectors are one-dimensional arrays that are capable of storing a variety of elements, including characters, numbers, logical values, and more. In R, vectors can be created and worked with in the following common ways:
1, Creating Vectors:
a. Numeric Vectors:
numeric_vector <- c(1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
b. Character Vectors:
character_vector <- c(“apple”, “banana”, “cherry”)
c. Logical Vectors:
logical_vector <- c(TRUE, FALSE, TRUE, TRUE)
d. Vector of a Single Type:
Vectors in R are homogeneous, meaning all elements must be of the same data type. If you mix types, R will implicitly convert them to a common type.
2. Accessing Elements:
You can access vector elements using indexing. Indexing in R starts from 1.
my_vector <- c(10, 20, 30, 40, 50)
element_3 <- my_vector[3] # Access the third element (element_3 will be 30)
3. Vector Operations:
You can perform various operations on vectors, such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and more. These operations are element-wise.
vector1 <- c(1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
vector2 <- c(5, 4, 3, 2, 1)
result <- vector1 + vector2 # Element-wise addition
4. Vector Functions:
R provides functions to work with vectors, such as length(), sum(), mean(), min(), max(), and more.
numbers <- c(5, 10, 15, 20, 25)
length_of_vector <- length(numbers)
sum_of_vector <- sum(numbers)
5. Vector Sequences:
You can create numeric vectors with sequences using seq() or :.
seq_vector <- seq(1, 10, by = 2) # Creates a sequence from 1 to 10 with a step of 2
colon_vector <- 1:5 # Creates a sequence from 1 to 5
6. Vector Manipulation:
You can modify vectors by adding or removing elements.
my_vector <- c(10, 20, 30)
my_vector <- c(my_vector, 40) # Append an element
my_vector <- my_vector[-2] # Remove the second element
7. Named Vectors:
You can assign names to vector elements for better readability and indexing.
named_vector <- c(apple = 10, banana = 20, cherry = 30)
value <- named_vector[“banana”] # Access “banana” element by name
These are the basics of working with vectors in R. Vectors are a fundamental building block in R, and they play a crucial role in many data analysis and statistical operations.
