Statistics for Big Data For Dummies (eBook)

Alan Anderson, PhD, is a professor of economics and finance at Fordham University and New York University. He's a veteran economist, risk manager, and fixed income analyst. David Semmelroth is an experienced data analyst, trainer, and statistics instructor who consults on customer databases and database marketing.

Introduction 1

Part I: Introducing Big Data Statistics 7

Chapter 1: What Is Big Data and What Do You Do With It? 9

Chapter 2: Characteristics of Big Data: The Three Vs 19

Chapter 3: Using Big Data: The Hot Applications 27

Chapter 4: Understanding Probabilities 41

Chapter 5: Basic Statistical Ideas 57

Part II: Preparing and Cleaning Data 81

Chapter 6: Dirty Work: Preparing Your Data for Analysis 83

Chapter 7: Figuring the Format: Important Computer File Formats 99

Chapter 8: Checking Assumptions: Testing for Normality 107

Chapter 9: Dealing with Missing or Incomplete Data 119

Chapter 10: Sending Out a Posse: Searching for Outliers 129

Part III: Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA) 141

Chapter 11: An Overview of Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA) 143

Chapter 12: A Plot to Get Graphical: Graphical Techniques 155

Chapter 13: You're the Only Variable for Me: Univariate Statistical Techniques 173

Chapter 14: To All the Variables We've Encountered: Multivariate Statistical Techniques 191

Chapter 15: Regression Analysis 215

Chapter 16: When You've Got the Time: Time Series Analysis 243

Part IV: Big Data Applications 269

Chapter 17: Using Your Crystal Ball: Forecasting with Big Data 271

Chapter 18: Crunching Numbers: Performing Statistical Analysis on Your Computer 297

Chapter 19: Seeking Free Sources of Financial Data 319

Part V: The Part of Tens 331

Chapter 20: Ten (or So) Best Practices in Data Preparation 333

Chapter 21: Ten (or So) Questions Answered by Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA) 339

Index 349