Journey to Data Scientist — Linear Algebra

“The value of knowledge shouldn’t depend on where that knowledge was acquired” — Python Programmer.

I took to youtube to learn linear algebra and the channel 3Blue1Brown has reputable playlists on linear algebra that explain the concepts very well. I’m not sure if it’s everything I need to know to become a data scientist but it’s a good start. To learn effectively I personally need to watch videos and write down notes to remember anything. I’ll use this blog as a medium (ha) to share my notes.

Vectors

There are three perspectives about what a vector is but nonetheless they are related. These perspectives come from physics, math and computer science.

The physics perspective is that vectors are arrows pointing in space. Vectors are defined by the length and direction are pointing.

Computer science perspective is that vectors are an ordered list of numbers. The order of this list matters.

The mathematician generalizes both of these by saying the vector can be any of these “where there’s a sensible notion of adding two vectors, and multiplying a vector by a number.”

In linear algebra it is almost always in context that the tail of the vector sits at the origin.