Preparing for Data Science

Data Science is a very hot area of employment right now. Being a Data Scientist basically means you are a programmer and a statistician/mathematician, and you can apply the knowledge of both worlds to tasks involving large amounts of data.

In order to start on a career path towards Data Science, you need all of the courses in the first two years of university calculus.

Yeah, you need all of them! Calculus I, Calculus II, Multivariable Calculus, Differential Equations, Linear Algebra, and Probability Theory (Calculus-Based Statistics). There are no short-cuts available if you really want to be a data scientist. You need to be both a serious mathematician and a master programmer.

There are many websites around that suggest you can get all of this mathematics knowledge just from the free MOOC courses available around the internet. This recommendation seems unrealistic - there are also lots of mathematics books available at the library and at used book stores, but trying to make your way through those math books by yourself .... that is a tall order.

Plus, if you do take the MOOC route and then you wish to actually complete a Data Science certificate or academic degree, proving that you have the requisite mathematics knowledge is ... not as convincing as having these academic courses completed and showing on a university transcript!

Here is a video on Data Science and our Distance Calculus courses course:

Preparing for Data Science with Distance Calculus

MOOCs, Academic Credits, and Distance Calculus