Basics

Question 1

What is a

Matrix

Answer 1

• an atomic vector with a dimension attribute
• a rectangular data type
• used to store tabular data

Question 2

What is

Coercion

Answer 2

The (implicit or explicit) conversion of data from one class to another, when data of different classes are combined within an object that can take only one class.

Question 3

Name the basic atomic classes of objects

Answer 3

character

numeric (real numbers)

integer

complex

logical (true/false)

Question 4

What is the main attribute of a vector?

Answer 4

It can only contain objects of the same class.

(The exception is the special list vector)

Question 5

What is an attribute?

Answer 5

An attribute is a property or the metadata of an object.

Some attributes are

• names, dimnames
• dimensions (e.g. matrices, arrays)
• class (e.g. integer, numeric)
• length
• user defined attributes/metadata