Learner Reviews & Feedback for Data Science Math Skills by Duke University

This course was a good refresher to some important math concepts needed for further study of statistics and data science. Most of the modules and videos were clear and easy to follow. However, I found the module on probability to be confusing and overly complex in its structure and explanations. For those with stronger math skills than me, it's probably a fairly easy course. I found it appropriately challenging, and for the most part it built my confidence in this important area.

This course moves very quickly and you will need a scientific Calculator. I was never the best in math, and this gave me a solid view point of the maths I will need to learn better to focus on data science. If you are good with Maths, this might be a great refresher. I worked with a Tutor and got through it, But week 3 I think the videos are out of order, or could be ordered differently. Anyway, I was very challenged and now know exactly where to apply my energy.

The course should be a guide text with very detail readings, with a lot of solved examples (complex ones) step by step. The readings should also explain very weel what I'm doing and why I'm doing each step, and in the end explain the exercise as a whole.

The practice quizzes should bring very real life examples (as thouse of VBS tests) and they have to match de guide text.

The videos should be made only from the most comum doubts and mistakes in the practice quizzes.

I found the first two.5 modules very well done. However, the second half of week three and week four were very poorly done. I am still uncertain about the applications of Bayes' theorem and the combination/permutation concepts. I had a very difficult time with the last quiz and had to go elsewhere to actually learn what I needed to, and even so, I still do not understand the approach to solving some of the problems. Quite frustrating and not rewarding.

While this was a good basic math, probability, and statistics refresher with good background material and reference documentation, it only scratches the surface of data science. I did like the problem solving style and the set theory this course encouraged, I did not find it sufficient to call a "data science" class. I understand this is may be a course prerequisite for other course, but alone I don't think it should refer to "data science".

The first two weeks were well paced, in week 3 I think too much is covered too quickly and in week 4 there is a further acceleration. That said, the course was good in highlighting the areas that I feel I need to work on and motivated me to take University of Zurich's intro to probability which filled the gap for the content from week 4 here. I think this might be a good refresher course for someone whose knowledge is not too stale.

I would give it a 3.5. Good for introducing you to the concepts you might need, but very bad at explaining them. It is understandable since it is a short course. Just bear that in mind when you enroll, if you want to explore a concept in depth you will need to look elsewhere. My main concern lies in the fact that the test were slightly harder than the topics covered on the videos, but still in the realm of manageable.

good subject matter choice; however, quality varied between the two professors. weeks 1-3 provided good clear lectures and enough practice questions; but week 4 had several confusing points in the lecture, then not enough practice. I really had to supplement my learning with outside videos and problems for week 4. but i passed the final test first time. thanks for narrowing down the maths needed for data science.

Lessons 1-3 are ok. Everything is explained well and you can make the tests easily. 4 is very difficult and despite many trials, I was not able to make it. And because of chapter 4 I suggest you rather take another course.

There is also a technical problem, because the formulas are displayed in java script, so it is not easy to understand how the formula looks like, if you do not know the script :(

The lectures are very short and simple. Sometimes the explanations are not explained thoroughly. Students without background on the subject will find it difficult to apply the concepts in actual problems like in the quizzes. I hope you can improve your content, discussions, and quizzes so students without background in advance math can enjoy your course. Thank you!

Helpful overview and review if it’s been a while since you taken stats and probability. But really needs more practice problems with explanations to practice through the workflow on the last two weeks. The formulas and calculations get pretty intense. They have printable handouts that go with all videos that were very helpful.

Keep in mind that this is meant to be an introduction to some of the math topics used in data science, it is not a comprehensive course. The course needs to include worksheets with practice problems for the students to practice. The instructors do not use enough real-world examples to demonstrate how the theory is applied.

je pense qu'il manque quelque définitions ,par exemple , pour dire que la probabilité d'un événement est égal à la somme de probabilités d'intersections de cet événement avec d'autres ,mais en fait on peut dire cela sauf si les autres événements forment un système complet d'événements. mais en général ça reste utile .

The course videos for the topics for Week 3 and 4 are not well explained. Even some of the questions in the quiz are not written in proper format. Please look into this and make changes to the course. Otherwise the syllabus of the course is well designed and the probability questions are of quite high standard!

Felt like the first 3 weeks were pretty good but the probability section needs a lot more detailed explanations and examples to make the information clear. For those that are already OK with this subject, it's probably fine but for those that haven't had much background in probability, this part was lacking.

The first half was planned and organized. The second half seemed haphazard. Examples were a little hard to follow. Quizzes were fine and seemed to test the material presented. I have only taken three other courses (4 total) and this one seemed a little rushed and the second half was created on a whim.

First 2 weeks of the course is amazing, very good didactics. The second teacher does not use very good examples, and the thing starts to fill like old math classes, but overall is good. I will need to redo the last 2 weeks because i fill that I will not remember most of it so easy as the first 2 weeks.

Good for high level understanding of few of the concepts. But last week 4 tutorials are covered at very high level , it was quite difficult to understand probability topic without referring to other online tutorials. I wish more examples could be given in the tutorials to strengthen understanding.

The class is good. However, the second half of the class zips through concepts that need a lot more explanation than is provided. Moreover this class would benefit from an optional tutorial on how to input factorials into a calculator as the answers on the exam go to the 8th decimal place.

Didn't like it. It helped me cover some of the concepts I have to know as an aspiring data scientist and the problems are good though tricky, but the explanations were confusing. I often find myself watching Khan Academy videos then coming back to do the questions.

Some concepts have been explained beautifully, which made things easier to understand. Some concepts (probability) I earlier understood so very well, but now I am confused with the teachings from this course. I don't really like how it has been explained.

The first half is really well explained. However, the second part could be improved with a more detailed explanation rather than introducing the equation and jump straight to the problem. Also, I think the quizzes in the latter part are (too) difficult.

Concepts are not clearly explained in the video sessions. I had to seek some other you tube videos to get the concepts with clarity . Some of the Practice quiz feedback are not fully explanatory and required more outside reference to clear the doubts .

You guys need to give better practice examples and scenarios in Weeks 3 and 4. That being said, I think the courses you presented give a nice foundation. I'm going to practice on my own time finding problems of the subjects you've spoken about.