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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Data Science Math Skills by Duke University

4.5
stars
11,642 ratings

About the Course

Data science courses contain math—no avoiding that! This course is designed to teach learners the basic math you will need in order to be successful in almost any data science math course and was created for learners who have basic math skills but may not have taken algebra or pre-calculus. Data Science Math Skills introduces the core math that data science is built upon, with no extra complexity, introducing unfamiliar ideas and math symbols one-at-a-time. Learners who complete this course will master the vocabulary, notation, concepts, and algebra rules that all data scientists must know before moving on to more advanced material. Topics include: ~Set theory, including Venn diagrams ~Properties of the real number line ~Interval notation and algebra with inequalities ~Uses for summation and Sigma notation ~Math on the Cartesian (x,y) plane, slope and distance formulas ~Graphing and describing functions and their inverses on the x-y plane, ~The concept of instantaneous rate of change and tangent lines to a curve ~Exponents, logarithms, and the natural log function. ~Probability theory, including Bayes’ theorem. While this course is intended as a general introduction to the math skills needed for data science, it can be considered a prerequisite for learners interested in the course, "Mastering Data Analysis in Excel," which is part of the Excel to MySQL Data Science Specialization. Learners who master Data Science Math Skills will be fully prepared for success with the more advanced math concepts introduced in "Mastering Data Analysis in Excel." Good luck and we hope you enjoy the course!...

Top reviews

AS

Jan 11, 2019

Effective way to refresh and add the Data Science math skills! Thanks a lot! At the time of the study some of the quizzes content were not rendering correctly on mobile devices (both iPad and Android)

RS

May 5, 2020

This was mostly review for me though probability especially Beyes Theorem derivation was new. The instructors provided clear often refreshing ways to look at material.

Thank you for a great class!!

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1676 - 1700 of 2,586 Reviews for Data Science Math Skills

By Erick S G P

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Jun 24, 2020

The first three blocks are really good explained. However, the last block containing probability was not so intuitive and I had to go to other sources to understand some concepts. It should be good to strenghten this last part and add more examples on probability of repeated events with and without replacement.

By Trong T L

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May 3, 2019

Good Refresher course. The material is on the easy side so you can finish the class in 1-2 hours. The last part of the class about probability was very good.

If you don't know anything before hand, this would be a good introduction to math topic that you would need to know, but not enough to stand on its own.

By Charan P

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Jul 24, 2021

This course is excellent for people who want to brush up their math skills and learn math in a way that is useful for data science. The probability videos in the last week can be improved. The first instructor is excellent and overall, a great course! Would recommend for high school freshmen or sophomores!

By Megan R

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Jan 6, 2018

This is a good review of basic mathematical principles. There were some examples of how the concepts apply to data analysis, but there could have been even more. The explanations were clear and concise. There is not a lot of reinforcement of the material, so I ended up doing some additional study/review.

By Alessia T

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Aug 21, 2020

I enjoyed taking this course during the quarantine period.

Even though the complexity of the arguments was not really high, the professors were really clear and helpful on every aspect.

I highly reccomend this course to those people who want to have a good revision on some important mathematics arguments.

By Melissa H

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Oct 6, 2020

The instructors break down the mathematical concepts into easy-to-understand terms, which helps me in understanding these concepts when I revisit them after 15 years. A minor feedback is if they could expand on the topic of probability as it moved too fast and slightly not as clear as the other topics.

By Edward I

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May 28, 2019

Great crash course. The latter units really ramp up in difficulty and the quiz/tests really made sure I was paying attention. There were a number of inconsistencies early on in the course. Although there were notices posted about them, it was still jarring to see/hear an example that was clearly wrong.

By quinten w

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Jan 8, 2021

For the most part I enjoyed this class and got quite a bit out of it. I do think there could be more examples shown and maybe even some "homework" given to work through some of the math needed. I did supplement this class with some YouTube videos. Most of those were by "The Organic Chemistry Tutor"

By Nursultan O

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Jul 29, 2020

There is a lack of examples in probability lectures. It would be great If you add more examples in probability lectures. In order to pass the test I had to find more additional explanations and examples on the Internet. Generally, the course is well organized and other topics are explained very good.

By Isra S

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Apr 21, 2020

The course is super good, definitely worth it for a beginner though at the last week it moves at a bit too fast base for a beginner, in general, it's a really good first step and a doorway to better understand and know what are the ways you can get information from data and what can you do with it.

By Lucy S

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Jul 26, 2020

Haven't done this math in 30 years. The general overview and PDF sheet were good. Required use of outside resources to understand units on probability, logarithms, change of base, and rate of growth of continuous processes. Extra time to do outside reading but glad to have learned this material.

By jay s

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Apr 1, 2020

Was a very nice intro into the math behind data science. The final chapter, (week 4) was not as well done as the first 3 weeks. The lessons seemed more hastily thrown together and failed to drive home the important sections. Would have been an easy 5 star but the last week was very disappointing.

By Adam M

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Sep 16, 2017

The Math instructor was great! I loved all his lessons. The engineering instructor teaches this final few weeks. I struggled with his teaching style and his penmanship. But, the topics covered throughout the course are great! The course notes given I also found useful I will hold on to!

By Suyog S

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Jul 25, 2021

Learned lot of new things, I had to sometimes refer to the materials outside the course, but the course provided me with structured learning and helped me to learn the required things, Haven't started any machine learning course, so can't say how much of the course contents are applicable.

By aut n

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May 18, 2020

Some question has no answer. For example, the log in the test 2 that answer is -80/23. It can't be that because the number inside the log less than 0. There are some errors in the same tests, too, such as the answer 1.304. Furthermore, some question in the fourth test has some confusion.

By David M

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Sep 8, 2019

The weakest coverage was definitely in the 4th week during the coverage of probability. One would be better off using youtube videos or another course as this overview was rushed and felt incomplete. The explanations and examples were just not up the standard set by previous weeks 1-3.

By Repko M

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Jan 5, 2022

I would love to have much more exercises on each topic so I could practice more! Plus within the final quiz the final task is not clear - I've calculated both probabilities, but I cannot understand what it means - to assess one probability vs the other and get the numbers in answers.

By Matthew R R W

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May 26, 2018

The videos and class materials are great for introducing students to all of these concepts. However, there should be more ways for students to practice things that they have learned in this class. Some of the modules were especially difficult because of the lack of practice problems.

By Jan-Olof J

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Apr 16, 2021

I learned a lot from this course, but the video walkthroughs for the last 2 weeks where hard to understand. I had to find other learning material that gave better explanations. I rate the course at 4 since the topics included are a good start for getting into data science math.

By Ishan S

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Jul 14, 2020

There certain things in the last week 2 videos that could be explained better and I felt like more formulas could have been derived for more multiple cases in the probability section. But although for basics it is a really good course. I will highly recommend it to everybody.

By krishna 3

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Apr 29, 2020

Even though this course seems to be simple to complete , the basics from this course are essential. All the Definitions of a Complex subjects are delivered through a simpler explanation. Reattempting the Quizzes results in knowing the areas where we have to concentrate more.

By Alina V

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Apr 10, 2020

I want the resend of my certificate with change of name in it. Due to some technical problems o mistyped my name in the account created. Can you please rectify my name as Alina Vincent for the course Data Science Maths Skills I completed today and resend a fresh certificate?

By Abhishek B

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Jan 19, 2018

Great fun brushing up all those basic skills! The quizzes were challenging. Additional reading resources might be helpful. Some later videos need a bit more explaining I guess. It might also be helpful to speed up the videos while the instructors are writing things down.

By Sakar K

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Oct 13, 2023

the lesson were really great and the practice quizzes were even better. In fact, i failed for the first time on the quiz of probability. But it felt like some lesson, especially related to the Bayes theorem was a bit rushed. Other than that, it was really great course.

By Bilal S

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Sep 6, 2022

it's a brilliamt course with well made lectures. I would've rated it 5 star but the Bayes' theorm part, the explanations were not clear, more breakdown was needed to clear up alot of confussions. Regardless, it's still a great course and i'd reccomend it to everyone.