In the previous chapter, we learned about the pandas data structures, how to bring our collected data into DataFrame objects, and various ways to inspect, summarize, filter, select, and work with DataFrame objects. Now that we are well-versed in the initial data collection and inspection stage, we can begin our foray into the world of data wrangling.
As mentioned in Chapter 1, Introduction to Data Analysis, preparing data for analysis is often the largest portion of the job time-wise for those working with data, and often the least enjoyable. On the bright side, pandas is well-equipped to help with these tasks, and, by mastering the skills presented in this book, we will be able to get to the more interesting parts sooner.
It should be noted that data wrangling isn't something we do merely once in our analysis; it is highly likely that we will do...