R Program to Calculate Area of a Rectangle

1. Introduction

A rectangle is a quadrilateral with opposite sides that are equal in length and four right angles. Calculating the area of a rectangle is a foundational concept in geometry with wide-ranging applications. In this guide, we'll create an R program that calculates the area of a rectangle using its length and width.

2. Program Overview

The main goal of the program is to request the user to input the length and width of the rectangle. 

Using these inputs, the program will then calculate and display the area of the rectangle.

3. Code Program

# Prompt the user to enter the length of the rectangle
cat("Enter the length of the rectangle: ")
length <- as.numeric(readLines(n=1))

# Prompt the user to enter the width of the rectangle
cat("Enter the width of the rectangle: ")
width <- as.numeric(readLines(n=1))

# Calculate the area of the rectangle
area <- length * width

# Display the computed area to the user
cat("The area of the rectangle with length", length, "and width", width, "is:", area, "\n")

Output:

Enter the length of the rectangle: 10
Enter the width of the rectangle: 5
The area of the rectangle with length 10 and width 5 is: 50

4. Step By Step Explanation

1. Our program initiates by prompting the user to provide the length of the rectangle using the cat function.

2. The function readLines(n=1) captures the user's input, which is then transformed into a numeric value with as.numeric. This numeric value is stored in the length variable.

3. Similarly, the user is asked to specify the width of the rectangle. This input, once captured and converted, is housed in the width variable.

4. With both the length and width known, the program computes the area of the rectangle by multiplying the two values, as given by the formula A = l * w. The resultant value is assigned to the area variable.

5. To conclude, the program uses the cat function to present the user with the computed area of the rectangle based on the provided dimensions.