In a previous post, we took our first look at vectors and their use in R. In this post, we will build on this knowledge by learning more ways to use and analyze vectors.

Functions for Analyzing Vectors

An important function for analyzing vectors is the str() function. This function allows you to look at the structure or characteristics of any object, including vectors. Objects are the pieces of data you create and or manipulate in R.

We are going to analyze the structure of the variable ‘points.of.James’, which contains a vector. Below is the code for this followed by an explanation.

• > points.of.James > str(points.of.James)
   num [1:6] 12 15 30 25 23 32

Here is what we did

1. We created the variable ‘points.of.James’
2. We assigned the values 12, 15,30, 25, 23, 32 to the variable ‘points.of.James’ Using a vector
3. We used the str() function to analyze the variable ‘points.of.James’
4. The output told us the following
   1. num means that the vector is numeric
   2. 1:6 shares two pieces of information. The 1 tells us how many dimensions the example, which is one. The six tells us how many values or indices the vector has, which is six. In other words there are six numbers in the variable. Remember the word ‘indices’, which refers to the location of a value within a vector, as it will be important in the future.

Let’s say you are curious to know how many indices a vector has. To figure this out you use the length()  function is demonstrated below.

• > points.of.James > length(points.of.James)
  [1] 6

You can probably see that the variable ‘points.of.James’ has six values within it.

Another useful function for vectors is the ability to combine them. In the example below, we will combine the variables ‘points.of.James’ and ‘points.of.Kevin’.

• > points.of.James > points.of.Kevin 
  > all.points > all.points  
  [1] 12 15 30 25 23 32 20 19 25 30 31 22

Here is what happen

1. We made the variables ‘point.of.James’ and ‘points.of.Kevin’ and inputted the values
2. We created a new variable called ‘all.points’ and assigned the variables ‘points.of.James’ and ‘points.of.Kevin’ to it.
   1. NOTE: Assigning a variable to another variable means assigning the values of the first variable to the second one. In other words, the values of ‘points.of.James’ and the values of ‘points.of.Kevin’ are now stored in the variable ‘all.points’
3. We then read the ‘all.points’ variable and it showed us all of the values within it. Which the same values found with ‘points.of.James’ and ‘points.of.Kevin’.

One last useful tool when using vectors is the ability to extract values from a vector. This can be done by using the brackets or [ ]. Extracting values means taking a handful of values from a vector and looking at them alone. Below is an example.

• > all.points
   [1] 12 15 30 25 23 32 20 19 25 30 31 22
  > all.points[10]
  [1] 30

In the example above we were looking at our ‘all.points’ variable. I typed all.points[10] into R and this told R to do the following

• Extract the tenth value from the ‘all.points’ variable

R then replies by telling me the tenth value of the ‘all.points’ variable is 30.

Off course, you can extract multiple values as seen below

• > all.points
   [1] 12 15 30 25 23 32 20 19 25 30 31 22
  > all.points[c(2, 4, 6, 8)]
  [1] 15 25 32 19

In this example, we extracted the second, fourth, sixth, and 8th value from the variable ‘all.points’

This is still just an introduction into how vectors can be used in R.