Preface

Demand for data scientists is growing exponentially and demand in the US is expected to increase by 28 percent by the year 2020, with this trend reflected across the world. R is a tool often used by data scientists to clean, examine, analyze, and report on data. It is a great starting point for those familiar with analysis in Excel or MS SQL and is an excellent place to begin to learn programming fundamentals.

This book begins by addressing the setup of R and RStudio on the machine and progresses from there, demonstrating how to import datasets, clean them, and explore their contents. It balances theory and exercises, and contains multiple open-ended activities that use real-life business scenarios for you to practice and apply your newly acquired skills in a highly relevant context. We have included over 50 practical activities and exercises across 11 topics, along with a mini project that will allow you to begin your data science project portfolio. With this book, we have created a definitive guide to beginning data science in R.