(image by Arek Socha, available at pixabay)

Lately, I've been working on the final parts of my latest book, which is contracted for the end of Spring this year. As this is probably going to be my last technical book for the foreseeable future, I'd like to put my best into it, given the available resources of time and energy. This is one of the reasons I haven't been very active on this blog as of late. In this book (whose details I’m going to reveal when it’s in the printing press) I examine various aspects of data science in a quite hands-on way. One of these aspects, which I often talk about with my mentees, is that of scale.

Scaling is very important in data science projects, particularly those involving distance-based metrics. Although the latter may be a bit niche from a modern standpoint where A.I. based systems are often the go-to option, there is still a lot of value in distances as they are usually the prima materia of almost all similarity metrics. Similarity-based systems, aka transductive systems, are quite popular even in this era of A.I. based models. This is particularly the case in clustering problems, whereby both the clustering algorithms and the evaluation metrics (e.g. Silhouette score/width) are based on distances for evaluating cluster affinity. Also, certain dimensionality reduction methods like Principle Components Analysis (PCA) often require a certain kind of scaling to function optimally.

Scaling is not as simple as it may first seem. After all, it greatly depends on the application as well as the data itself (something not everyone is aware of since the way scaling/normalization is treated in data science educational material is somewhat superficial). For example, you can have a fixed range scaling process or a fixed center one. You can even have a fixed range and fixed center one at the same time if you wish, though it's not something you'd normally see anywhere. Fixed scaling is usually in the [0, 1] interval and it involves scaling the data so that its range is constant. The center point of that data (usually measured with the arithmetic mean/average), however, could be distorted. How much so depends on the structure of the data. As for the fixed center scaling, this ensures that the center of the scaled variable is a given value, usually 0. In many cases, the spread of the scaled data is fixed too, usually by setting the standard deviation to 1.

Programmatic methods for performing scaling vary, perhaps more than the Stats educators will have you think. For example, in the fixed range scaling, you could use the min-max normalization (aka 0-1 normalization, a term that shows both limited understanding of the topic and vagueness), or you could use a non-linear function that is also bound by these values. The advantage of the latter is that you can mitigate the effect of any outliers, without having to eradicate them, all through the use of good old-fashioned Math! Naturally, most Stats educators shy away at the mention of the word non-linear since they like to keep things simple (perhaps too simple) so don’t expect to learn about this kind of fixed-range scaling in a Stats book.

All in all, scaling is something worth keeping in mind when dealing with data, particularly when using a distance-based method or a dimensionality reduction process like PCA. Naturally, there is more to the topic than meets the eye, plus as a process, it's not as basic as it may seem through the lens of package documentation or a Stats book. Whatever the case, it's something worth utilizing, always in tandem with other data engineering tools to ensure a better quality data science project.

Hello everyone and happy new year! I hope you all had a good holiday break. I thought about it quite a bit and I've decided this year to go a different direction with the videos I make as I plan to focus more on courses. Stay tuned for more news on this matter in the weeks to come...

Just wanted to wish you all Happy Holidays! It's been a great year and I appreciate your support through this blog. I won't be posting anything new in the next couple of weeks as I'll b traveling. Feel free to check out some of my older posts, though.

I hope your holidays are insightful, inspirational, and intriguing!

Lately, I've made some progress on a data science research project I've been working on for the past couple of years. I’ve hinted about it in previous posts, though due to the nature of this work I’ve abstained from going into any details. Besides, most people are not that open to new ideas, unless they are marketed by some established company or some renowned professor.

Anyway, the other day I made a breakthrough in this work, something that can have significant implications in how we deal with private data. What’s more, I've developed a new way of summarizing a dataset (which is innately different from sampling it), with minimal loss of information. This opens new avenues of research and the possibilities of new data science and A.I. methods are vast. Naturally, I'll need to look into this more, so any online writing I do will have to take second priority.

Parallel to that, I’ve been working on another project lately, something I plan to continue for the foreseeable future. However, an important part of it is completed, which I’ll make sure I’ll announce in the next few days.

As a result to all this, I’m now more open to hosting other people’s articles on data science and A.I. topics, given that they are not spammy in any way. Back-links are also acceptable, given that they are towards relevant sites to the articles. So, if you have something you’d like to contribute to the blog, now is a great opportunity to do so.

Whatever the case, I plan to continue writing on this blog albeit at a slower pace for the time being, so stay tuned!

Throughout this blog, I've talked about all sorts of problems and how solving them can aid one's data science acumen as well as the development of the data science mindset. Problem-Solving skills rank high when it comes to the soft skills aspect of our craft, something I also mentioned in my latest video on O'Reilly. However, I haven't talked much about how you can hone this ability.

Enter Brilliant, a portal for all sorts of STEM-related courses and puzzles that can help you develop problem-solving, among other things. If you have even a vague interest in Math and the positive Sciences, Brilliant can help you grow this into a passion and even a skill-set in these disciplines. The most intriguing thing about all this is that it does so in a fun and engaging way.

Naturally, most of the stuff Brilliant offers comes with a price tag (if it didn't, I would be concerned!). However, the cost of using the resources this site offers is a quite reasonable one and overall good value for money. The best part is that by signing up there you can also help me cover some of the expenses of this blog, as long as you use this link here: www.brilliant.org/fds (FDS stands for Foxy Data Science, by the way). Also, if you are among the first 200 people to sign up you'll get a 20% discount, so time is definitely of the essence!

Note that I normally don't promote anything of this blog unless I'm certain about its quality standard. Also, out of respect for your time I refrain from posting any ads on the site. So, whenever I post something like this affiliate link here I do so after careful consideration, opting to find the best way to raise some revenue for the site all while providing you with something useful and relevant to it. I hope that you view this initiative the same way.

These days I was on vacation (this image should give you a hint!), so no post this week unfortunately... However, as of next week (or even later this week, depending on my workload), I should have something for you. In the meantime, you can check out some of my older posts. Until next time!

These days I'm working feverishly on a book project so there is no time for any new data science / A.I. related post here. If you want something else to read, feel free to check my articles on beBee, such as the latest one, available here. Parallel to all this, I'm preparing another educational project, something I'll talk more about later on. Stay tuned!

So, recently I decided to make a video on this topic, based on some things I've observed in data science candidates. The hope is that this may help them and anyone else who may be looking into becoming a more holistic data scientist, instead of just a data science technician. The video I made is now available online on O'Reilly and although it's a bit longer than others I've made (not counting the quiz ones), it's fairly easy to follow. Enjoy!

Alright, the quiz video fever is over for the time being, so I'm back to making conventional data science videos. This latest one on APIs, for example, just got published on O'Reilly.  It's more technical than others, but very useful, particularly if you know already a few things about data science. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it!

Note that although you can view the list of videos and books on O'Reilly's learning platform, you need to have a valid account in order to view them in their entirety. A pretty good investment, if you ask me, but before you commit to a monthly or a yearly subscription, you can always have a trial one which lasts for 10 days. Cheers!

So, the 7th quiz video I've created is finally online on O'Reilly. This is the longest one so far spanning over 51 minutes, meaning there are lots of explanations for the various questions. It covers a bunch of topics, such as A/B testing, ANOVA, and various statistical tests. I put a lot of thought in this, much like you'd put a lot of thought in designing a data science experiment. Hopefully, you'll find it as useful and enjoyable as I did.

Note that just like other videos published on O'Reilly, you'll need to have an active account (even if it's a trial one), in order to view it in its entirety. As a bonus, you'll be able to view other videos as well as books available on that platform. Enjoy!