Data Project: Get and Analyze ‘Quality of Life’ Data for World Cities

An image of Lisbon, Portugal with the heading "Data Project: Finding Great Cities"

I have a confession. I’m an American, and I was raised an American. But, I’ve been semi-nomadic for almost 10 years. A “digital nomad.” That is, I’ve lived in many countries around the world since about 2014 (although, I also lived a substantial amount of time in Austin, Texas during the last 10 years). I’m … Read more

How to do Simple EDA for Machine Learning

An old image of the Titanic in Belfast, Ireland, with the Python logo off to the upper right hand side of the image.

In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to do some simple exploratory data analysis (EDA) for a machine learning project. In this tutorial, we’ll look at the Titanic dataset, which is commonly used in machine learning tutorials, and has previously been used as a Kaggle dataset. This tutorial will really only scratch the surface. There’s … Read more

Why R is My Favorite Language for “First Time” Data Scientists

Probably the most common question I get from new data science students is, “Which language should I learn … R or Python?” This is a somewhat complex question to answer, because it depends on who you are and what your goals are. Having said that, I do have a preference for first time data scientists. … Read more

Pandas Mean, Explained

An image that shows an example of the Pandas mean technique.

In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to use the Pandas mean technique. The mean() technique calculates the mean of the the numeric values in a Pandas dataframe or Pandas series. So in the tutorial, I’ll explain how we use the technique, how the syntax works, and I’ll show you step-by-step examples. If you need … Read more

Pandas Sum, Explained

An image that shows how to sum values in a Pandas dataframe.

In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to use the Pandas sum technique. The sum() technique sums up the numeric values in a Pandas dataframe or Pandas series. So in the tutorial, I’ll explain how we use the technique, how the syntax works, and I’ll show you step-by-step examples. If you need something specific, just … Read more