About this course

Analytical models are key to understanding data, generating predictions, and making business decisions. Without models it’s nearly impossible to gain insights from data. In modeling, it’s essential to understand how to choose the right data sets, algorithms, techniques and formats to solve a particular business problem.

In this course, part of the Analytics: Essential Tools and Methods MicroMasters® program, you’ll gain an intuitive understanding of fundamental models and methods of analytics and practice how to implement them using common industry tools like R.

You’ll learn about analytics modeling and how to choose the right approach from among the wide range of options in your toolbox.

You will learn how to use statistical models and machine learning as well as models for:

• classification;
• clustering;
• change detection;
• data smoothing;
• validation;
• prediction;
• optimization;
• experimentation;
• decision making.

What you’ll learn

• Fundamental analytics models and methods
• How to use analytics software, including R, to implement various types of models
• Understanding of when to apply specific analytics models

Prerequisites

• Probability and statistics
• Basic programming proficiency
• Linear algebra
• Basic calculus

Who can take this course?

Unfortunately, learners from one or more of the following countries or regions will not be able to register for this course: Iran, Cuba and the Crimea region of Ukraine. While edX has sought licenses from the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to offer our courses to learners in these countries and regions, the licenses we have received are not broad enough to allow us to offer this course in all locations. EdX truly regrets that U.S. sanctions prevent us from offering all of our courses to everyone, no matter where they live.

About this course

Today, businesses, consumers, and societies leave behind massive amounts of data as a by-product of their activities. Leading-edge companies in every industry are using analytics to replace intuition and guesswork in their decision-making. As a result, managers are collecting and analyzing enormous data sets to discover new patterns and insights and running controlled experiments to test hypotheses.

This course prepares students to understand business analytics and become leaders in these areas in business organizations. This course teaches the scientific process of transforming data into insights for making better business decisions. It covers the methodologies, issues, and challenges related to analyzing business data. It will illustrate the processes of analytics by allowing students to apply business analytics algorithms and methodologies to business problems. The use of examples places business analytics techniques in context and teaches students how to avoid the common pitfalls, emphasizing the importance of applying proper business analytics techniques.

What you’ll learn

After taking this course, students should be able to:

• approach business problems data-analytically. Students should be able to think carefully and systematically about whether and how data and business analytics can improve business performance.
• develop business analytics ideas, analyze data using business analytics software, and generate business insights.

Prerequisites

Computing for Data Analysis, Introduction to Analytics Modeling, and each of their prerequisites

Who can take this course?

Unfortunately, learners from one or more of the following countries or regions will not be able to register for this course: Iran, Cuba and the Crimea region of Ukraine. While edX has sought licenses from the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to offer our courses to learners in these countries and regions, the licenses we have received are not broad enough to allow us to offer this course in all locations. EdX truly regrets that U.S. sanctions prevent us from offering all of our courses to everyone, no matter where they live.

About this course

The modern data analysis pipeline involves collection, preprocessing, storage, analysis, and interactive visualization of data.

The goal of this course, part of the Analytics: Essential Tools and Methods MicroMasters® program, is for you to learn how to build these components and connect them using modern tools and techniques.

In the course, you’ll see how computing and mathematics come together. For instance, “under the hood” of modern data analysis lies numerical linear algebra, numerical optimization, and elementary data processing algorithms and data structures. Together, they form the foundations of numerical and data-intensive computing.

The hands-on component of this course will develop your proficiency with modern analytical tools. You will learn how to mash up Python, R, and SQL through Jupyter notebooks, among other tools. Furthermore, you will apply these tools to a variety of real-world datasets, thereby strengthening your ability to translate principles into practice.

Who can take this course?

Unfortunately, learners from one or more of the following countries or regions will not be able to register for this course: Iran, Cuba and the Crimea region of Ukraine. While edX has sought licenses from the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to offer our courses to learners in these countries and regions, the licenses we have received are not broad enough to allow us to offer this course in all locations. EdX truly regrets that U.S. sanctions prevent us from offering all of our courses to everyone, no matter where they live.