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Introduction to Data

Course

Learn the basic concepts of data analysis and descriptive statistics. Learn how to manipulate, analyze and visualize data in Excel and Google Sheets. Learn about business metrics across a wide range of business areas (marketing, sales, growth and finance). Finally, learn about forecasting sales and financial metrics.

Learn the basic concepts of data analysis and descriptive statistics. Learn how to manipulate, analyze and visualize data in Excel and Google Sheets. Learn about business metrics across a wide range of business areas (marketing, sales, growth and finance). Finally, learn about forecasting sales and financial metrics.

Beginner

3 weeks

Real-world Projects

Completion Certificate

Last Updated February 22, 2024

Skills you'll learn:
Basic spreadsheet use • Business KPIs • Basic descriptive statistics • Spreadsheet functions
Prerequisites:

No experience required

Course Lessons

Lesson 1

Descriptive Statistics - Part I

In this lesson, you will learn about data types, measures of center, and the basics of statistical notation.

Lesson 2

Descriptive Statistics - Part II

In this lesson, you will learn about measures of spread, shape, and outliers as associated with quantitative data. You will also get a first look at inferential statistics.

Lesson 3

Spreadsheets 1: Getting Started

In this lesson, you will learn about the basic functionality for spreadsheet software, use cell referencing and menu shortcuts.

Lesson 4

Spreadsheets 2: Manipulate Data

In this lesson, you will learn basic spreadsheet function: sort and filter data, use text and math functions, split columns and remove duplicates.

Lesson 5

Spreadsheets 3: Analyze Data

In this lesson, you will learn how to summarize data with aggregation and conditional functions. You will learn how to use pivot tables and lookup functions.

Lesson 6

Spreadsheets 4: Visualize Data

In this lesson you will build data visualizations for quantitative and categorical data; create pie, bar, line, scatter, histogram, and boxplot charts, and build professional presentations.

Lesson 7

Business Metrics

This lesson will cover how to calculate business metrics used by business analysts across a range of business functions. You will also learn how to calculate and interpret key performance metrics.

Lesson 8

Excel Modeling

This lesson will cover the fundamentals of sales and financial forecasting models. You will learn how to create forecast models using advanced lookup and data validation tools in Excel and Sheets.

Lesson 9 • Project

Project: Analyze NYSE Data

In this project, you will use a data set containing financial performance data from companies listed in NYSE S&P to create an income statement and forecast financial metrics.

Taught By The Best

Photo of Josh Bernhard

Josh Bernhard

Staff Data Scientist

Josh has been sharing his passion for data for over a decade. He's used data science for work ranging from cancer research to process automation. He recently has found a passion for solving data science problems within marketplace companies.

Photo of Ruchi Bhanot

Ruchi Bhanot

Instructor

Ruchi is a data scientist with over a decade of experience in research and industry. She received her PhD from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She has taught at the University level and designs online learning content within the ed-tech industry.

Photo of Dana Sheahan

Dana Sheahan

Content Developer

Dana is an electrical engineer with a Masters in Computer Science from Georgia Tech. Her work experience includes software development for embedded systems in the Automotive Group at Motorola, where she was awarded a patent for an onboard operating system.

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Introduction to Data

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4 Months

Average time to complete a Nanodegree program

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Discount applies to the first 4 months of membership, after which plans are converted to month-to-month.