December 2017
Beginner to intermediate
404 pages
11h 12m
English
Content preview from Data Science on the Google Cloud Platform
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Chapter 1. Making Better Decisions Based on Data
The primary purpose of data analysis is to make better decisions. There is rarely any need for us to spend time analyzing data if we aren’t under pressure to make a decision based on the results of that analysis. When you are purchasing a car, you might ask the seller what year the car was manufactured and the odometer reading. Knowing the age of the car allows you to estimate the potential value of the car. Dividing the odometer reading by the age of the car allows you to discern how hard the car has been driven, and whether it is likely to last the five years you plan to keep it. Had you not cared about purchasing the car, there would have been no need for you to do this data analysis.
In fact, we can go further—the purpose of collecting data is, in many cases, only so that you can later perform data analysis and make decisions based on that analysis. When you asked the seller the age of the car and its mileage, you were collecting data to carry out your data analysis. But it goes beyond your data collection. The car has an odometer in the first place because many people, not just potential buyers, will need to make decisions based on the mileage of the car. The odometer reading needs to support many decisions—should the manufacturer pay for a failed transmission? Is it time for an oil change? The analysis for each of these decisions is different, but they all rely on the fact that the mileage data has been collected.
Collecting ...
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O’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.Julian F.
I wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.Addison B.
I’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.Amir M.
I'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.