This book provides an introduction to the mathematical and algorithmic foundations of data science, including machine learning, high-dimensional geometry, and analysis of large networks. Topics include the counterintuitive nature of data in high dimensions, important linear algebraic techniques such as singular value decomposition, the theory of random walks and Markov chains, the fundamentals of and important algorithms for machine learning, algorithms and analysis for clustering, probabilistic models for large networks, representation learning including topic modelling and non-negative matrix factorization, wavelets and compressed sensing. Important probabilistic techniques are developed including the law of large numbers, tail inequalities, analysis of random projections, generalization guarantees in machine learning, and moment methods for analysis of phase transitions in large random graphs. Additionally, important structural and complexity measures are discussed such as matrix norms and VC-dimension. This book is suitable for both undergraduate and graduate courses in the design and analysis of algorithms for data.

Statistical Foundations of Data Science gives a thorough introduction to commonly used statistical models, contemporary statistical machine learning techniques and algorithms, along with their mathematical insights and statistical theories. It aims to serve as a graduate-level textbook and a research monograph on high-dimensional statistics, sparsity and covariance learning, machine learning, and statistical inference. It includes ample exercises that involve both theoretical studies as well as empirical applications. The book begins with an introduction to the stylized features of big data and their impacts on statistical analysis. It then introduces multiple linear regression and expands the techniques of model building via nonparametric regression and kernel tricks. It provides a comprehensive account on sparsity explorations and model selections for multiple regression, generalized linear models, quantile regression, robust regression, hazards regression, among others. High-dimensional inference is also thoroughly addressed and so is feature screening. The book also provides a comprehensive account on high-dimensional covariance estimation, learning latent factors and hidden structures, as well as their applications to statistical estimation, inference, prediction and machine learning problems. It also introduces thoroughly statistical machine learning theory and methods for classification, clustering, and prediction. These include CART, random forests, boosting, support vector machines, clustering algorithms, sparse PCA, and deep learning.

The aim of the book is to help students become data scientists. Since this requires a series of courses over a considerable period of time, the book intends to accompany students from the beginning to an advanced understanding of the knowledge and skills that define a modern data scientist. The book presents a comprehensive overview of the mathematical foundations of the programming language R and of its applications to data science.

"This book is for students or anyone, with limited or no prior programming, statistics, and data analytics knowledge. This short guide is ideal for absolute beginners, or anyone who wants to acquire a basic working knowledge of data science. It is an excellent guide if you want to learn about the principals of data science from scratch, in just a few hours. The author discussed everything that you need to know about data science. First, you are guided to learn the meaning of data science. The history of data science has been discussed to help you know how people came to realize that data is a rich source of knowledge and intelligence. The theories underlying data science have been discussed. Examples include decision and estimation theories. The author discussed the various machine learning algorithms used in data science and the various steps one has to undergo when performing data science tasks, from data collection to data presentation and visualization. The author helps you to know the various ways through which you can apply data science in your business for increased profits. A simple language has been used to ensure ease of understanding, especially for beginners." --

Foundations of Statistics for Data Scientists: With R and Python is designed as a textbook for a one- or two-term introduction to mathematical statistics for students training to become data scientists. It is an in-depth presentation of the topics in statistical science with which any data scientist should be familiar, including probability distributions, descriptive and inferential statistical methods, and linear modeling. The book assumes knowledge of basic calculus, so the presentation can focus on "why it works" as well as "how to do it." Compared to traditional "mathematical statistics" textbooks, however, the book has less emphasis on probability theory and more emphasis on using software to implement statistical methods and to conduct simulations to illustrate key concepts. All statistical analyses in the book use R software, with an appendix showing the same analyses with Python. The book also introduces modern topics that do not normally appear in mathematical statistics texts but are highly relevant for data scientists, such as Bayesian inference, generalized linear models for non-normal responses (e.g., logistic regression and Poisson loglinear models), and regularized model fitting. The nearly 500 exercises are grouped into "Data Analysis and Applications" and "Methods and Concepts." Appendices introduce R and Python and contain solutions for odd-numbered exercises. The book's website has expanded R, Python, and Matlab appendices and all data sets from the examples and exercises.

This textbook, suitable for an early undergraduate up to a graduate course, provides an overview of many basic principles and techniques needed for modern data analysis. In particular, this book was designed and written as preparation for students planning to take rigorous Machine Learning and Data Mining courses. It introduces key conceptual tools necessary for data analysis, including concentration of measure and PAC bounds, cross validation, gradient descent, and principal component analysis. It also surveys basic techniques in supervised (regression and classification) and unsupervised learning (dimensionality reduction and clustering) through an accessible, simplified presentation. Students are recommended to have some background in calculus, probability, and linear algebra. Some familiarity with programming and algorithms is useful to understand advanced topics on computational techniques.

This book addresses controversies concerning the epistemological foundations of data science: Is it a genuine science? Or is data science merely some inferior practice that can at best contribute to the scientific enterprise, but cannot stand on its own? The author proposes a coherent conceptual framework with which these questions can be rigorously addressed. Readers will discover a defense of inductivism and consideration of the arguments against it: an epistemology of data science more or less by definition has to be inductivist, given that data science starts with the data. As an alternative to enumerative approaches, the author endorses Federica Russo’s recent call for a variational rationale in inductive methodology. Chapters then address some of the key concepts of an inductivist methodology including causation, probability and analogy, before outlining an inductivist framework. The inductivist framework is shown to be adequate and useful for an analysis of the epistemological foundations of data science. The author points out that many aspects of the variational rationale are present in algorithms commonly used in data science. Introductions to algorithms and brief case studies of successful data science such as machine translation are included. Data science is located with reference to several crucial distinctions regarding different kinds of scientific practices, including between exploratory and theory-driven experimentation, and between phenomenological and theoretical science. Computer scientists, philosophers and data scientists of various disciplines will find this philosophical perspective and conceptual framework of great interest, especially as a starting point for further in-depth analysis of algorithms used in data science.