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My BlogWhat is Data Science
Data Science is the field of science which allows us to extract meaning out of data. It started with statistics at its core and developed over time as we upgraded ourselves to store and analyze data. In recent times, there has been a significant surge in our capability to generate and store data, credits to social media. Based on the reports floating online, over 90% of the total data we have, was created over last couple of years.
Machine Learning
Machine Learning is the branch of data science through which we go one step ahead from basic statistics and deal with predictions. These predictions help a machine learn on its own and execute tasks. In order to help these machines learn patterns in the data and generate meaningful insights, a whole lot of algorithms have been designed. We will discuss about these algorithms in the next post.
Applications of Machine Learning
Today, you will find a team of data scientists in almost every other organization. Everyone is tring to leverage data in order to come up with insights that might help them grow their business. Machine Learning is being used in almost every other domain be it healthcare, banking or agriculture. Businesses use it to decide their marketing strategies. Virtual Personal Assistants are already out in the market. Recommendation Systems are used to sell similar products to the customers and the list goes on.
Prerequisites
If you are just starting out, I would recommend to get yourself acquainted with Statistics and Probability. The book An Introduction to Statistical Learning is a very common place to start. Although, I personally prefer Complete Business Statistics. Free PDF versions are available online for the books.
Linear Algebra and Calculus are also required but you wont be using them in day to day workings most of the time unless you want to go for the deeper understanding of how different algorithms work. Having said that, they will definetly help you be more confident and thorough in your approaches.