# rmcelreath/rethinking

Statistical Rethinking course and book package

Repository: https://github.com/rmcelreath/rethinking
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/rethinking
Language: R
License Family: other
Last push: 2026-06-10T07:05:08+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 62/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 86, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4927, "days_push": 84, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 2419, forks 626 (observed 2026-08-28T04:06:50.489906+00:00)

## What it is
An R package accompanying McElreath's Statistical Rethinking book and course on Bayesian data analysis. It provides tools for quadratic approximation and Hamiltonian Monte Carlo via RStan or cmdstanr, requiring models to be specified as explicit lists of distributional assumptions for teaching purposes.

## Use cases
- learn Bayesian data analysis with the Statistical Rethinking book
- fit Bayesian generalized linear models with quadratic approximation
- run Hamiltonian Monte Carlo sampling through Stan
- specify statistical models as explicit distributional assumptions
- work through course exercises without installing Stan using the slim version
- teach students Bayesian modeling by writing out every model detail

## When to choose
- you are following the Statistical Rethinking course or book
- you want a teaching-oriented Bayesian modeling tool with explicit model specification
- you need both quick quadratic approximation and full MCMC in one package

## When to avoid
- you need a production-grade Bayesian workflow with formula-based syntax
- you require a CRAN-installable package
- you want automated or black-box model fitting rather than explicit assumptions

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: active
- function: machine-learning, data-science, developer-tools
- domain: data-science, education, tutorials
- platform: python, cross-platform
- tags: bayesian-statistics, r-package, mcmc, stan, quadratic-approximation, teaching, statistical-modeling, hamiltonian-monte-carlo, textbook-companion

## Member repositories
- rmcelreath/rethinking (main) score 62

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:06:50.489906+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T02:33:06.111122+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/rmcelreath/rethinking (fetched 2026-08-28T04:06:50.489906+00:00, sha 2db3b2d9449b)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.