R is a language and environment that allows for statistical computing and graphics. It is a GNU project that is very similar to the S language environment and environment, which were developed at Bell Laboratories (formerly AT&T now Lucent Technologies) in John Chambers and his colleagues. R can be seen as a different implementation to S. However, most code written for S runs without modification under R. R offers a wide range of statistical (linear, nonlinear modelling and classical statistical tests, time series analysis, classification, clustering and graphic techniques and is extensible. Research in statistical methodology is often done using the S language. R offers an Open Source way to participate in this activity. R's strength is its ability to produce well-designed publications-quality plots, including formulae and mathematical symbols.