This article on understanding the data is Part I in a series looking at data science and machine learning by walking through a Kaggle competition. The other parts in this series can be found here.
In a futile attempt to shed some light on the field of Data Science, I have put together a multi-part series looking at what data science involves and some of the techniques most commonly used. This series is not intended to make everyone experts on data science, rather it is intended to simply try and remove some of the fear and mystery surrounding the field. In order to be as practical as possible, this series will be structured as a walk through of the process of entering a Kaggle competition and the steps taken to arrive at the final submission.
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