Notation

Notation is a common language used to communicate

mathematical ideas. Think of notation as a universal language
used by academic and industry professionals to convey
mathematical ideas. In the next videos, you might see things
that seem confusing. Use the quizzes to assist with your
understanding of the concepts.
You likely already know some notation. Plus, minus, multiply,
division, and equal signs all have mathematical symbols that you
are likely familiar with. Each of these symbols replaces an idea
for how numbers interact with one another. In the coming
concepts, you will be introduced to some additional ideas related
to notation. Though you will not need to use notation to
complete the project, it does have the following properties:
1. Understanding how to correctly use notation makes you
seem really smart. Knowing how to read and write in
notation is like learning a new language. A language that is
used to convey ideas associated with mathematics.
2. It allows you to read documentation, and implement an
idea to your own problem. Notation is used to convey
how problems are solved all the time. One really popular
mathematical algorithm that is used to solve some of the
world's most difficult problems is known as Gradient
Boosting. The way that it solves problems is explained
here(opens in a new tab). If you really want to understand
 how this algorithm works, you need to be able to read and
understand notation.
3. It makes ideas that are hard to say in words easier to
convey. Sometimes we just don't have the right words to
say. For those situations, I prefer to use notation to convey
the message. Similar to the way an emoji or meme might
convey a feeling better than words, the notation can convey
an idea better than words. Usually, those ideas are related
to mathematics, but I am not here to stifle your creativity.
Random Variable
Example to Introduce Notation
There is a lot going on in this video - here is a recap of the big
ideas.
Rows and Columns
If you aren't familiar with spreadsheets, this will be covered in
detail in future lessons. Spreadsheets are a common way to hold
data. They are composed of rows and columns. Rows run
horizontally, while columns run vertically. Each column in a
spreadsheet commonly holds a specific variable, while each
row is commonly called an instance or individual.
The example used in the video is shown below.
Date Day of WeekTime Spent On Site (X)Buy (Y)
June
Thursday 5 No
15
June
Thursday 10 Yes
15
June
Friday 20 Yes
16
This is a row:
Date Day of WeekTime Spent On Site (X)Buy (Y)
June
Thursday 5 No
15
This is a column:
Time Spent On Site (X)
5
10
20
Before Collecting Data
Before collecting data, we usually start with a question, or
multiple questions, that we would like to answer. The
purpose of data is to help us in answering these questions.
Random Variables
A random variable is a placeholder for the possible values of
some process (mostly... the term 'some process' is a bit
ambiguous). As was stated before, notation is useful in that it
helps us take complex ideas and simplify (often to a single letter
or single symbol). We see random variables represented by
capital letters (X, Y, or Z are common ways to represent a
random variable).
We might have the random variable X, which is a holder for the
possible values of the amount of time someone spends on our
site. Or the random variable Y, which is a holder for the possible
values of whether or not an individual, purchases a product.
X is 'a holder' of the values that could possibly occur for the
amount of time spent on our website. Any number from 0 to
infinity really.
Aggregations
An aggregation is a way to turn multiple numbers into fewer
numbers (commonly one number).
Summation is a common aggregation. The notation used to sum
our values is a greek symbol called sigma ΣΣ.
Example 1
Imagine we are looking at the amount of time individuals spend
on our website. We collect data from nine individuals:
𝑥1x1 = 10, 𝑥2x2 = 20 𝑥3x3 = 45 𝑥4x4 = 12 𝑥5x5 = 8 𝑥6x6 =
12, 𝑥7x7 = 3 𝑥8x8 = 68 𝑥9x9 = 5
If we want to sum the first three values together in our previous
notation, we write:
𝑥1+𝑥2+𝑥3x1+x2+x3
In our new notation, we can write:
∑𝑖=13𝑥𝑖i=1∑3xi.
Notice, our notation starts at the first observation (𝑖=1i=1) and
ends at 3 (the number at the top of our summation).
So all of the following are equal to one another:
∑𝑖=13𝑥𝑖i=1∑3xi = 𝑥1+𝑥2+𝑥3x1+x2+x3 = 10 + 20 + 45 = 75
Example 2
Now, imagine we want to sum the last three values together.
𝑥7+𝑥8+𝑥9x7+x8+x9
In our new notation, we can write:
∑𝑖=79𝑥𝑖i=7∑9xi.
Notice, our notation starts at the seventh observation (𝑖=7i=7)
and ends at 9 (the number at the top of our summation).
Other Aggregations
The ΣΣ sign is used for aggregating using summation, but we
might choose to aggregate in other ways. Summing is one of the
most common ways to need to aggregate. However, we might
need to aggregate in alternative ways. If we wanted to multiply
all of our values together we would use a product sign ΠΠ** **,
capital Greek letter pi. The way we aggregate continuous values
is with something known as integration (a common technique in
calculus), which uses the following symbol ∫∫ which is just a
long s. We will not be using integrals or products for quizzes in
this class, but you may see them in the future!
Summary on Notation
Notation Recap
Notation is an essential tool for communicating mathematical
ideas. We have introduced the fundamentals of notation in this
lesson that will allow you to read, write, and communicate with
others using your new skills!

Notation and Random Variables

As a quick recap, capital letters signify random variables.
When we look at individual instances of a particular random
variable, we identify these as lowercase letters with subscripts
attach themselves to each specific observation.
For example, we might have X be the amount of time an
individual spends on our website. Our first visitor arrives and
spends 10 minutes on our website, and we would say 𝑥1x1 is 10
minutes.
We might imagine the random variables as columns in our
dataset, while a particular value would be notated with the lower
case letters.
Notation English Example
Time spent
X A random variable
on website

𝑥1x1
First observed value of the random
15 mins
variable X
∑𝑖=1𝑛𝑥𝑖i=1∑n Sum values beginning at the first 5 + 2 + ... +
xi observation and ending at the last 3
Sum values beginning at the first
1𝑛∑𝑖=1𝑛𝑥𝑖n1 observation and ending at the last (5 + 2 +
i=1∑nxi and divide by the number of 3)/3
observations (the mean)

𝑥ˉxˉ
Exactly the same as the above - the (5 + 2 +
mean of our data. 3)/3

Notation for the Mean

We took our notation even further by introducing the notation
for summation ∑∑. Using this we were able to calculate the
mean as:
1𝑛∑𝑖=1𝑛𝑥𝑖n1i=1∑nxi

In the next section, you will see this notation used to assist in
your understanding of calculating various measures of spread.
Notation can take time to fully grasp. Understanding notation
not only helps in conveying mathematical ideas but also in
writing computer programs - if you decide you want to learn that
too! Soon you will analyze data using spreadsheets. When that
happens, many of these operations will be hidden by the
functions you will be using. But until we get to spreadsheets, it
is important to understand how mathematical ideas are
commonly communicated. This isn't easy, but you can do it!