Principles of Data Science

DSC 10, Winter 2026 at UC San Diego

Peter Chi
he/him

[email protected]

Sam Lau
he/him

[email protected]

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Week 1 – Python Basics

Mon Jan 5

LEC 1 Introduction

CIT 1.0, BPD 1-3

Lecturer: Sam, Peter Keywords: course logistics, syllabus, Little Women demo, Jupyter notebooks, expressions

DISC 1 Getting Started with Jupyter Notebooks

Wed Jan 7

LEC 2 Expressions and Data Types

BPD 3-5

Lecturer: Sam Keywords: variables, assignment, functions, import, methods, int, float, string

SUR Welcome Survey

SYL Syllabus Check

Fri Jan 9

LEC 3 Lists and Arrays

BPD 7-8, CIT 14.1

Lecturer: Sam Keywords: mean, median, lists, arrays, array arithmetic, array methods, np.arange

Week 2 – DataFrames and Visualization

Mon Jan 12

LEC 4 DataFrames

BPD 9

Lecturer: Sam Keywords: read_csv, .get, .assign, .sort_values, .iloc, .loc, .set_index, US states

LAB 0 Expressions and Data Types

PRE Pretest

Wed Jan 14

LEC 5 Querying and Grouping

BPD 10-11

Lecturer: Peter Keywords: Booleans, querying, .shape, &, |, .take, .groupby, aggregation, .drop

Fri Jan 16

LEC 6 Data Visualization

CIT 7.0-7.1

Lecturer: Sam Keywords: numerical vs. categorical, scatter plot, line plot, bar chart, exoplanets

QUIZ Research Assessment 1 (+1% extra credit for completion)

Week 3 – Histograms and Functions

Mon Jan 19

No Lecture (Martin Luther King Jr. Day)

Tue Jan 20

LAB 1 Arrays and DataFrames

Wed Jan 21

LEC 7 Distributions and Histograms

CIT 7.2-7.3

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

HW 1 Basic Python, Arrays, and DataFrames

Fri Jan 23

LEC 8 Functions and Applying

BPD 6, 12

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

QUIZ 1 Quiz 1 covers Lectures 1-6

Week 4 – DataFrames, Control Flow, and Probability

Mon Jan 26

LEC 9 Grouping on Multiple Columns, Merging

BPD 11, 13

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

LAB 2 Data Visualizations and Functions

Wed Jan 28

LEC 10 Conditional Statements and Iteration

CIT 9.0-9.2

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

HW 2 DataFrames, Data Visualization, and Functions

Fri Jan 30

LEC 11 Probability

CIT 9.5

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

Week 5 – Simulations and Sampling

Mon Feb 2

LEC 12 Simulation

CIT 9.3-9.4

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

LAB 3 DataFrames, Control Flow, and Probability

Wed Feb 4

LEC 13 Distributions and Sampling

CIT 10.0-10.4

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

HW 3 DataFrames, Control Flow, and Probability

SUR Mid-Quarter Survey

Fri Feb 6

LEC 14 Bootstrapping and Confidence Intervals

CIT 13.0-13.2

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

QUIZ 2 Quiz 2 covers Lectures 7-11

Week 6 – Confidence Intervals and the Normal Distribution

Mon Feb 9

LEC 15 Confidence Intervals, Center, and Spread

Lecturer: Peter

Wed Feb 11

Midterm Exam covers Lectures 1-12

EXAM Midterm Exam covers Lectures 1-12

Fri Feb 13

LEC 16 Standardization and the Normal Distribution

CIT 14.2-14.3

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

PROJ Midterm Project

Week 7 – Central Limit Theorem

Mon Feb 16

No Lecture (Presidents Day)

Tue Feb 17

LAB 4 Simulation, Sampling, & Bootstrapping

Wed Feb 18

LEC 17 The Central Limit Theorem

Lecturer: Peter

HW 4 Simulation, Sampling, & Bootstrapping

Fri Feb 20

LEC 18 Choosing Sample Sizes, Statistical Models

CIT 14.4-14.5

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

Week 8 – Hypothesis and Permutation Testing

Mon Feb 23

LEC 19 Hypothesis Testing

CIT 11.3

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

LAB 5 Variability and the Normal Distribution

Wed Feb 25

LEC 20 Hypothesis Testing and Total Variation Distance

CIT 11.2, 11.4

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

HW 5 The Normal Distribution and the Central Limit Theorem

Fri Feb 27

LEC 21 TVD, Hypothesis Testing, and Permutation Testing

CIT 12.0-12.1

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

QUIZ 3 Quiz 3 covers Lectures 13-17

Week 9 – Prediction

Mon Mar 2

LEC 22 Permutation Testing

CIT 12.3

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

LAB 6 Hypothesis Testing

Wed Mar 4

LEC 23 Correlation

CIT 15.0-15.2

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

Thu Mar 5

HW 6 Hypothesis Testing and Permutation Testing

Fri Mar 6

LEC 24 Regression and Least Squares

CIT 15.2-15.4

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

QUIZ 4 Quiz 4 covers Lectures 18-21

Week 10 – Review

Mon Mar 9

LEC 25 Residuals and Inference

CIT 15.5-16.3

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

LAB 7 Regression

Wed Mar 11

LEC 26 Review

Lecturer: Sam

Thu Mar 12

PROJ Final Project

Fri Mar 13

LEC 27 Review, Conclusion

Lecturer: Sam, Peter

QUIZ Research Assessment 2 (+1% extra credit for completion)

Sat Mar 14

Final Exam (8-11AM)

EXAM Final Exam (8-11AM)

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