Algorithms For Dummies, 2nd Edition

Chapter 4

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

You’ve probably used online tutorials or other methods to learn the basics of the Python language — the arcane symbols you use to communicate with your computer. (If not, you can find good basic tutorials at https://www.w3schools.com/python/ and https://www.tutorialspoint.com/python/index.htm). However, simply knowing how to control a language by using its constructs to perform tasks isn’t enough to create a useful application. 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. (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 ...