Book Image

Hands-On Data Preprocessing in Python

By : Roy Jafari
5 (2)
Book Image

Hands-On Data Preprocessing in Python

5 (2)
By: Roy Jafari

Overview of this book

Hands-On Data Preprocessing is a primer on the best data cleaning and preprocessing techniques, written by an expert who’s developed college-level courses on data preprocessing and related subjects. With this book, you’ll be equipped with the optimum data preprocessing techniques from multiple perspectives, ensuring that you get the best possible insights from your data. You'll learn about different technical and analytical aspects of data preprocessing – data collection, data cleaning, data integration, data reduction, and data transformation – and get to grips with implementing them using the open source Python programming environment. The hands-on examples and easy-to-follow chapters will help you gain a comprehensive articulation of data preprocessing, its whys and hows, and identify opportunities where data analytics could lead to more effective decision making. As you progress through the chapters, you’ll also understand the role of data management systems and technologies for effective analytics and how to use APIs to pull data. By the end of this Python data preprocessing book, you'll be able to use Python to read, manipulate, and analyze data; perform data cleaning, integration, reduction, and transformation techniques, and handle outliers or missing values to effectively prepare data for analytic tools.
Table of Contents (24 chapters)
1
Part 1:Technical Needs
6
Part 2: Analytic Goals
11
Part 3: The Preprocessing
18
Part 4: Case Studies

Errors

Errors are an inevitable part of any data collection and measurement. The following formula best captures this fact:

The True Signal is the reality we are trying to measure and present in the form of Data, but due to the incapability of our measurement system or data presentation, we cannot capture the True Signal. Therefore, Error is the difference between the True Signal and the recorded Data.

For instance, let's say we have purchased seven thermometers and we would like to accurately calculate the room temperature using these seven thermometers. At a given point in time, we take the following readings from them:

Figure 11.37 – Seven thermometers' readings

Looking at the preceding screenshot, what would you say the temperature of the room—the True Signal—is? The answer is that we cannot measure or capture the True Signal—in this case, the exact temperature of the room. With seven thermometers, we may...