Essential Math for Data Science?

Question: How much math do you need to study Data Science?

Distance Calculus - Lower Courses
General Mathematics Courses
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Credit
Hours

Distance Calculus - Math Major Courses
Mathematics Major Courses
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Credit
Hours

Answer: A lot!
To even study Data Science, you need start off being a mathematician/statistician, which means you need a very solid foundation in university mathematics, starting with the following undergraduate, lower-division courses:
You may have searched around the internet looking for math/calculus-level courses to build up your math skills in preparation for Data Science. There certainly are excellent (free!) courses online via MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses). However, you will want to have all of the above courses on real, transferable Academic transcripts to prove you have completed these courses, with letter grades, not just say "I took these courses from a MOOC". You need real credentials as a mathematician for data science.

MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) are awesome, but they do not provide real academic course credit for their courses. If you plan to go for a B.A. or M.A. with a Data Science concentration, you will not be able to say "Oh, I took all my calculus courses from a MOOC" - you need these courses in your academic portfolio. We invite you to explore our Distance Calculus courses in more detail via the links above, or perhaps the movies below.

Data Science & Distance Calculus






Academic Credits from Distance Calculus



Data Science can best be described as a "a cross between a programmer and a mathematician/statistician".

This topic has many names, all being equivalent:
  • Data Science
  • Applied Statistics
  • Programmer+Mathematician
  • Big Data

If you wish to become a Data Scientist, you will need to develop both strong programming skills, and have a very strong mathematics background.

Distance Calculus @ Roger Williams University can help prepare you for a study of Data Science - either for a degree in Data Science or perhaps a certificate - by helping you complete the core mathematics courses necessary for starting a Data Science degree or certificate.

There are no short-cuts you can do with going into Data Science. You just can't learn Python and then pretend you are a Data Scientist because you watch a few videos on running data sets through Python! You NEED a very strong mathematics background that includes ALL of the following courses:


Distance Calculus - Lower Courses
General Mathematics Courses
Semester
Credit
Hours

Distance Calculus - Math Major Courses
Mathematics Major Courses
Semester
Credit
Hours






Distance Calculus - Student Reviews

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Date Posted: Apr 13, 2020
Review by: Jorgen M.
Courses Completed: Calculus I
Review: I really enjoyed this course, much more than I thought I would. I needed to finish this course very fast before starting my graduate degree program @ Kellogg. I was able to finish in 3 weeks. I liked the video lectures and the homework process. I highly recommend this course.
Transferred Credits to: Kellogg School of Business, Northwestern Univ





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Date Posted: Jan 12, 2020
Review by: Brian Finley
Courses Completed: Calculus II
Review: I took Calculus II through Distance Calculus and can't recommend it enough. Being able to take the course at my own pace while I was working full time was tremendously helpful, especially since I hadn't taken a math course for 5 years prior. The instruction was excellent and the software they used to teach the course was intuitive and facilitated the learning process very well. This calc II class enabled me to take multivariable calc, linear algebra, and real analysis at Harvard University's extension school, which ultimately qualified me for the economics PhD program that I will graduate from next year. 8 years on, I'm still grateful to Professor Curtis and Distance Calculus.





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Date Posted: Jun 21, 2020
Review by: Abdul J.
Courses Completed: Applied Calculus
Review: This was the best class! So much more interesting doing the computer math than a boring lecture class. Diane was so responsive and helpful. I recommend this course.
Transferred Credits to: Villanova University





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