Applying numeric methods

In the previous sections, you learned about a number of functions that range from inspecting data structures to math and logical operations. These functions are fundamental to solving problems such as root finding and doing calculus. As a computing environment, R already implements various tools of good performance so that users do not have to reinvent the wheel. In the following sections, you will learn the built-in functions designed for root finding and calculus.

Root finding

Root finding is a commonly encountered task. Suppose we want to find the roots of the following equation:

x2 + x - 2= 0

To manually find the roots, we can transform the preceding equation in product terms:

(x+2)(x-1)= 0

Therefore, the roots of the equation ...

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