ABSTRACT
Data analysis is one of main focuses of this book. While the computing tools, the people have introduced are relatively recent developments, data analysis has been around for over a century. The accumulation of ideas and insights has given rise to discipline of statistics, which provides a mathematical framework that greatly facilitates the description and formal evaluation of ideas. To avoid repeating common mistakes and wasting time reinventing a wheel, it is important for a data analyst to have an in-depth understanding of statistics. However, due to the maturity of the discipline, there are dozens of excellent books already published on the topic and the people therefore do not focus on describing the mathematical framework. The specific concepts covered in part are Probability, Statistical Inference, Statistical Models, Regression, and Linear Models, which are major topics covered in a statistics course. The case studies, the people present relate to financial crisis, forecasting election results, understanding heredity, and building a baseball team.
