Algorithms For Dummies

Chapter 5

Performing Essential Data Manipulations Using Python

IN THIS CHAPTER

Using matrixes and vectors to perform calculations

Obtaining the correct combinations

Employing recursive techniques to obtain specific results

Considering ways to speed calculations

Chapter 4 discusses the use of Python as a means for expressing in concrete terms those arcane symbols often used in mathematical representations of algorithms. In that chapter, you discover the various language constructs used to perform tasks in Python. However, simply knowing how to control a language by using its constructs to perform tasks isn’t enough. The goal of mathematical algorithms is to turn one kind of data into another kind of data. Manipulating data means taking raw input and doing something with it to achieve a desired result. (As with data science, this is a topic covered in Python for Data Science For Dummies, by John Paul Mueller and Luca Massaron [Wiley].) For example, until you do something with traffic data, you can’t see the patterns that emerge that tell you where to spend additional money in improvements. ...