Data Science Glossary

Browse 10 data science terms defined in plain English, from the cultural dictionary of computing.

10 Data Science Terms

clustering
An unsupervised machine learning technique that groups similar data points together without predefined labels. Common algorithms include k-means, DBSCAN, and...
cohort analysis
A technique that groups users by a shared characteristic (typically signup date) and tracks their behavior over time. Instead of looking at aggregate metrics...
correlation
A statistical measure (typically Pearson's r, ranging from -1 to +1) that quantifies the strength and direction of the linear relationship between two...
dimensionality reduction
A set of techniques (PCA, t-SNE, UMAP) that reduce the number of features in a dataset while preserving as much meaningful structure as possible. Essential...
feature engineering
The process of using domain knowledge to create, transform, or select input variables (features) that improve a machine learning model's predictive...
Jupyter
An open-source platform for interactive computing that lets users create notebook documents combining live code, equations, visualizations, and narrative text....
NumPy
The foundational Python library for numerical computing, providing support for large multi-dimensional arrays, matrices, and a vast collection of mathematical...
pandas
An open-source Python library providing high-performance, easy-to-use data structures (DataFrames and Series) and analysis tools. Built on top of NumPy, pandas...
p-value
The probability of obtaining results at least as extreme as the observed data, assuming the null hypothesis is true. A small p-value (typically below 0.05)...
R
A programming language and environment specifically designed for statistical computing and data visualization. R's comprehensive package ecosystem (CRAN) and...

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