Linear Algebra for Data Scientists

alexhwoods.com

22 points·bpolania··6 comments

I tend to think that anybody using the title "Data Scientist" should already know this material like the back of their hand. Good intro for those looking to learn, though.

"While in data science it’s not as important, I personally think understanding (if possible) the algorithm you’re using is a noble goal."

People think this? Good god...

Don't you know that we live in a world where anybody who can run couple of machine libraries in Python can call himself/herself "Data Scientist"? No need to understand the underlying algorithms!

Well, I think it has to do more with what the industry is demanding. I think that even if you know your linear algebra you're not a scientist either, perhaps in the long run we will see, data engineers, scientists, consultants and technicians.

Lets make a deal, if you don't know linear algebra please don't call yourself a data scientist.

I agree with everything said above. I think the term "data scientist" is used very loosely. With some of the "data science" I see in big companies, they tend to just import the library and leave the math up to PhD's and the writers of scikit-learn.

I do think this is a problem and that is the point I was trying to get across when I wrote the post.

Not bad for an intro to linear algebra but he covers a lot of topics without diving into the details.

In college I watched the Khan Academy lectures. They were amazing. Made linear algebra very intuitive. https://www.khanacademy.org/math/linear-algebra

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