Principles of Data Science

DSC 10, Spring 2025 at UC San Diego

Janine Tiefenbruck
she/her

Lecture(s): (A) MWF 9-9:50AM, (B) MWF 11-11:50AM in Solis 104

Tip: When working on assignments, use Ctrl+F on this page to search for a keyword and quickly find the relevant lecture. Click the “✏️ write” button to open a static version of the lecture for reference, which is much faster than loading it on DataHub.
Also, make sure to use the reference sheet to quickly look up babypandas methods and see examples of how they work.

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Week 1 – Python Basics

Mon Mar 31

LEC 1 Introduction

CIT 1.0-1.3

Keywords: data science, course structure, policies, syllabus, Little Women demo

Wed Apr 2

LEC 2 Variables and Data Types

BPD 1-6

Keywords: Jupyter notebooks, expressions, variables, assignment, functions, int, float

DISC 1 Getting Started with Jupyter Notebooks

Thu Apr 3

SUR Welcome Survey

SYL Syllabus Check

PRE Pretest

Fri Apr 4

LEC 3 Lists and Arrays

BPD 7-8, CIT 14.1

Keywords: string methods, mean, median, lists, arrays, array arithmetic

Sat Apr 5

LAB 0 Expressions and Data Types

Week 2 – DataFrames

Mon Apr 7

LEC 4 DataFrames

BPD 9

Keywords: array methods, np.arange, .read_csv, .get, .assign, .sort_values, .iloc, .loc, index

Wed Apr 9

LEC 5 Querying and Grouping

BPD 10-11

Keywords: .set_index, Booleans, querying, .shape, &, |, .take, .groupby, aggregation

DISC 2 Arrays and DataFrames

Thu Apr 10

LAB 1 Arrays and DataFrames

Fri Apr 11

LEC 6 Data Visualization

CIT 7.0-7.1

Keywords: .groupby, numerical vs. categorical, scatter plot, line plot, bar chart

Week 3 – Data Visualization and Functions

Mon Apr 14

LEC 7 Distributions and Histograms

CIT 7.2-7.3

Keywords: distributions, density histograms, binning, total area, overlaid plots

DISC 3 Querying, Grouping, and Plotting

HW 1 Basic Python, Arrays, and DataFrames

Wed Apr 16

LEC 8 Functions and Applying

BPD 6, 12

Keywords: functions, arguments, print vs. return, .apply, .reset_index

QUIZ 1 Quiz 1 covers Lectures 1-5

Thu Apr 17

LAB 2 Data Visualizations and Python Functions

Fri Apr 18

LEC 9 Grouping on Multiple Columns, Merging

BPD 11, 13

Keywords: .groupby([col_1, col_2, …]), subgroups, MultiIndex, .merge, number of rows

Week 4 – Control Flow and Probability

Mon Apr 21

LEC 10 Conditional Statements and Iteration

CIT 9.0-9.2

Keywords: in, not, and, or, if, else, elif, for-loops, np.append, accumulator pattern

DISC 4 Functions, DataFrames, and Control Flow

HW 2 DataFrames, Data Visualization, and Functions

Wed Apr 23

LEC 11 Probability

CIT 9.5

Keywords: event, conditional prob., multiplication and addition rules, independence

QUIZ 2 Quiz 2 covers Lectures 6-9

Thu Apr 24

LAB 3 DataFrames, Control Flow, and Probability

Fri Apr 25

LEC 12 Simulation

CIT 9.3-9.4

Keywords: np.random.choice, replacement, np.count_nonzero, coin flipping, Monty Hall

Week 5 – Simulation, Sampling, and Confidence Intervals

Mon Apr 28

LEC 13 Distributions and Sampling

CIT 10.0-10.4

Keywords: probability vs. empirical distribution, SRS, .sample, parameter, statistic

DISC 5 Probability and Simulation

HW 3 DataFrames, Control Flow, and Probability

SUR Mid-Quarter Survey

Wed Apr 30

REV Midterm Review

Fri May 2

EXAM Midterm Exam covers Lectures 1-12

Week 6 – Midterm Exam and the Normal Distribution

Mon May 5

LEC 14 Bootstrapping and Confidence Intervals

CIT 13.0-13.2

Keywords: inference, bootstrapping, resample, np.percentile, confidence interval

PROJ Midterm Project

Wed May 7

LEC 15 Confidence Intervals, Center, and Spread

CIT 13.3-13.4

Keywords: interpreting CIs, robust vs. sensitive, center, standard deviation, Chebyshev

DISC 6 Sampling, Bootstrapping, and Confidence Intervals

Thu May 8

LAB 4 Simulation, Sampling, & Bootstrapping

Fri May 9

LEC 16 Standardization and the Normal Distribution

CIT 14.2-14.3

Keywords: Chebyshev, standard units, normal distribution, CDF, inflection points

Week 7 – Central Limit Theorem

Mon May 12

LEC 17 The Central Limit Theorem

CIT 14.4-14.5

Keywords: distribution of the sample mean, square root law, CLT-based CIs

DISC 7 Standardization and the Normal Distribution

HW 4 Simulation, Sampling, Bootstrapping

Wed May 14

LEC 18 Choosing Sample Sizes, Statistical Models

CIT 14.6, 11.1

Keywords: standard deviation of 0s and 1s, np.random.multinomial, Robert Swain jury

QUIZ 3 Quiz 3 covers Lectures 13-16

Thu May 15

LAB 5 Variability and the Normal Distribution

Fri May 16

LEC 19 Hypothesis Testing

CIT 11.3

Keywords: null and alternative hypotheses, test statistic, fair or unfair coin

Week 8 – Hypothesis and Permutation Testing

Mon May 19

LEC 20 Hypothesis Testing and Total Variation Distance

CIT 11.2, 11.4

Keywords: fair or unfair coin, p-value, midterm exam scores, Alameda County jury, TVD

DISC 8 The Central Limit Theorem and Hypothesis Testing

HW 5 The Normal Distribution and the Central Limit Theorem

Wed May 21

LEC 21 TVD, Hypothesis Testing, and Permutation Testing

CIT 12.0-12.1

Keywords: confidence intervals for hypothesis testing, body temperature, smoking/babies

QUIZ 4 Quiz 4 covers Lectures 17-20

Thu May 22

LAB 6 Hypothesis Testing

Fri May 23

LEC 22 Permutation Testing

CIT 12.3

Keywords: smoking/babies, np.random.permutation, shuffling, Deflategate

Week 9 – Prediction

Mon May 26

No Lecture (Memorial Day)

Tue May 27

HW 6 Hypothesis Testing and Permutation Testing

Wed May 28

LEC 23 Correlation

CIT 15.0-15.2

Keywords: association, correlation coefficient (r), predicting heights, regression line (su)

DISC 9 Total Variation Distance and Permutation Testing

Fri May 30

LEC 24 Regression and Least Squares

CIT 15.2-15.4

Keywords: regression line in original units, outliers, errors, RMSE, best fit, least squares

Sat May 31

LAB 7 Regression

Week 10 – Review

Mon Jun 2

LEC 25 Residuals and Inference

CIT 15.5-16.3

Keywords: residuals, residual plots, patterns, datasaurus dozen, prediction intervals

QUIZ 5 Quiz 5 covers Lectures 21-24

Wed Jun 4

REV Final Review

PROJ Final Project

DISC 10 Regression

Fri Jun 6

REV Final Review, Conclusion

Sat Jun 7

EXAM Final Exam (11:30AM to 2:30PM)

SUR SETs and End-of-Quarter Survey (due 8AM)