What is Data: Definition and 998 Discussions

Data are units of information, often numeric, that are collected through observation. In a more technical sense, data are a set of values of qualitative or quantitative variables about one or more persons or objects, while a datum (singular of data) is a single value of a single variable.Although the terms "data" and "information" are often used interchangeably, these terms have distinct meanings. In some popular publications, data are sometimes said to be transformed into information when they are viewed in context or in post-analysis. However, in academic treatments of the subject data are simply units of information. Data are used in scientific research, businesses management (e.g., sales data, revenue, profits, stock price), finance, governance (e.g., crime rates, unemployment rates, literacy rates), and in virtually every other form of human organizational activity (e.g., censuses of the number of homeless people by non-profit organizations).
Data are measured, collected and reported, and analyzed, and from data visualizations such as graphs, tables or images are produced. Data as a general concept refers to the fact that some existing information or knowledge is represented or coded in some form suitable for better usage or processing. Raw data ("unprocessed data") is a collection of numbers or characters before it has been "cleaned" and corrected by researchers. Raw data needs to be corrected to remove outliers or obvious instrument or data entry errors (e.g., a thermometer reading from an outdoor Arctic location recording a tropical temperature). Data processing commonly occurs by stages, and the "processed data" from one stage may be considered the "raw data" of the next stage. Field data is raw data that is collected in an uncontrolled "in situ" environment. Experimental data is data that is generated within the context of a scientific investigation by observation and recording.
Data has been described as the new oil of the digital economy.

View More On Wikipedia.org
Recent contents Top users
  1. M

    MATLAB Can't get tutorial to work with new data

    Hi PF! I'm going through a backtracking tutorial here. That code runs well for me, and is below: %% LOAD DATA % Read a table of daily adjusted close prices for 2006 DJIA stocks. T = readtable('dowPortfolio.xlsx'); % For readability, use only 15 of the 30 DJI component stocks. assetSymbols =...
  2. M

    MHB Calculate Data Points to Match Given Totals

    Hello! I have a super tricky problem for everyone I truly hope there is an answer to this. I have different data sets all of which are a different amount of number per set (total points per set) Each number is multiplied by 4.86 then rounded down. Then the total is added Alternatively the sum...
  3. M

    MATLAB How to load data from the example supplied on MATLAB website?

    The demo here doesn't specify how to download the file dowPortfolio.xlsx from the first line in the tutorial: T = readtable('dowPortfolio.xlsx'); Any help here (please tell me it's not just me)? Nevermind, evidently you literally can just copy that line into the command window and MATLAB...
  4. DaveC426913

    Raw genetic data: Plink and TPED file

    Well I just checked out my boy's breed of dog. Not what we expected...But the analysis came with some raw data, 200,000 base pairs on ... 41 chromosomes. They're in a .TPED file, which can be opened in Excel. Apparently, it an also be analyzed using PLINK software. Wondering what I can do to...
  5. M

    A Linear combination of data with uncertainty

    Hello! I have 2 measured data points (they are measurements of different observable, not 2 measurement of the same observable), with quite different errors, say ##x_1 = 100 \pm 1## and ##x_2 = 94 \pm 10##. I want to compute the value (and associated uncertainty) of a linear combination of them...
  6. JD_PM

    MATLAB How to plot flow data from an orifice in MATLAB without overlapping the plots?

    I am studying a flow going through an orifice. I am aimed at overlapping the plots for the speed distribution over the vertical width profile (which is 0.015 m long; highlighted in red) for two downstream, horizontal distances [w.r.t. the orifice]: 0.01 m and 0.03 m. The result should look...
  7. A

    Data sources for Vehicle Dynamics Model validation?

    Hello all, I have written a VDM for my Masters thesis, unfortunately, since I am from a discipline other than mechanical engineering I don't have access to reliable validation material or a way to produce it (moreover, we don't have an actual vehicle testing lab/area at the U that I know of)...
  8. J

    Data Breach: XYZ's Privacy/Legal & Ethical Considerations

    If a company has a data breach what are the privacy/legal and ethical factors that the business has to take into consideration? Researching I've seen that most laws require disclosure of the data breach if it contains personal information. EU laws are the most strict. Failure to disclose...
  9. M

    What data can we use to help evaluate Russian biowarfare allegations?

    For a week I've been seeing Russian allegations that the U.S. was researching bioweapons in the Ukraine. Today's example specifically targets a company, Metabiota. To be clear, I have seen nothing persuasive so far, for the following reasons: Metabiota's entire role is to track emerging...
  10. N

    GPS receiver data transfer using RF transmission

    Hi all I want to develop a miniature system using GPS receiver, a micro-controller, an RF transmitter and its receiver. The idea is to acquire lat/long of buoy dropped in sea which is equipped with miniature GPS receiver (with associated circuitry) which can send its position (lat/long data) to...
  11. shivajikobardan

    Comp Sci Cold Start & Early Rater: Making Predictions with Limited Data

    cold start-: system requires huge amt of current user data to make accurate predictions early rater-: new user hasn't rated many items to make predictions. both same? isn't it?
  12. M

    I How to find Heliocentric latitude data for each planet?

    Does anyone know where to find information (or software or calculator) able to show on which days / time (2021) where Mercury (and other planets) are as low/high as possible on the heliocentric latitude For example: like the animation seen in the link below. The problem with this site is that...
  13. anorlunda

    NTSB Accident Report, Data Entry Error

    On September 8, 2019, the 200m long vehicle carrier ship Golden Ray (carrying 4067 Kia, Chevrolet, GMC, GM, Mercedes-Benz, and Ram vehicles) capsized in St. Simons Sound, Georgia, USA The accident caused the loss of a $62 million ship, $142 million in lost cargo, and $250 million in salvage...
  14. chwala

    Data transfer from MS Excel to PSPP

    Homework Statement:: See attached Relevant Equations:: analysis stats Find below a sample of the data that i want to import onto spss; My intention is to have the data appearing as one variable only on PSPP. This is how it appears on PSPP; It defaults as 5 variables, ...i used comma...
  15. shivajikobardan

    Comp Sci Why is distributed computing/system important/necessary for big data?

    What is 1 example of use of distributed system in big data? Here are the notes in my college curriculum, which I of course understand but it doesn't make clear what is the role of distributed system in big data-...
  16. shivajikobardan

    MHB Unravelling the Role of Distributed Systems in Big Data

    Here are the notes in my college curriculum, which I of course understand but it doesn't make clear what is the role of distributed system in big data-...
  17. shivajikobardan

    MHB What are structures of big data?

    I am learning about 3 V's of big data. I am learning about variety at the moment. They say variety represents variety of formats, data sources and structures. I understand format might be txt, audio, video files etc. Sources might be different sources of data. But what is structures of data?
  18. shivajikobardan

    Comp Sci What are structures of big data?

    I am learning about 3 V's of big data. I am learning about variety at the moment. They say variety represents variety of formats, data sources and structures. I understand format might be txt, audio, video files etc. Sources might be different sources of data. But what is structures of data? I...
  19. D

    Data storage using microtubules?

    Can the microtubule, due to its symmetry and conservation laws (Noether’s theorem), be a good candidate for data storage?
  20. soniajessi

    Other Is Data Science a good career Choice?

    Is data science in demand? Is data science hard? How many hours do data scientists work? Is it hard to find a job as a data scientist?
  21. fresh_42

    I Double Pulsar: 16 Year Study Validates Relativity

    I'm not sure if this belongs to astronomy or GR. But as it - once again - proves Einstein right, I posted it here for all who need another paper to conquer all who doubt. And I think it is an interesting paper (53 pages), at least from my layman's point of view...
  22. Haorong Wu

    I Any tools that can help find the equation for a set of data?

    Suppose that I can generate the result of a function ## c_{x,y}=f(x,y)## by a method not involving the function ##f##. I need to find ##f(x,y)## now. The expression of ##f(x,y)## is expected to contain basic algebra operation (+-*/), power, absolute value and factorial. I have tried to find it...
  23. W

    A Choice of Pipelines for Data Analysis

    Hi, So say I have some data to process. I am trying, say, Linear/Multilinear Regression. I know how to do this within Python Pandas. I can learn how with Tensorflow (TF). Would TF produce the same output given the "right" choice of Activation Functions *? Or would it output a model that is...
  24. C

    I Finding a Rational Function with data (Pade approximation)

    Dear Everybody, I need some help understanding how to use pade approximations with a given data points (See the attachment for the data). Here is the basic derivation of pade approximation read the Derivation of Pade Approximate. I am confused on how to find a f(x) to the data or is there a...
  25. chwala

    Finding the skewness and Kurtosis of grouped data

    See the grouped data below; I just want to be certain that i have followed the correct step in trying to find skewness of the grouped data.
  26. A

    MCNP Output Data: Tutorials & PDFs for SCWR Criticality Analysis

    Hi, Is there any tutorial or pdfs that can help me with the MCNP output data? I'm working on the criticality of the SCWR, and I designed the fuel assembly and run it on the MCNP, but I have no idea about data extraction.
  27. H

    World Data Storage: How Much Did 2TB Equal in the Past?

    I bought a thing the size of a pack of cigarettes that holds 2 terabytes. My question is, in what year was the total electronic data storage of the entire world equal to 2 terabytes?
  28. M

    Boffins use nuclear radiation to send data wirelessly

    https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/15/wireless_information_transfer_with_fast_neutrons/ https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168900221009013 Not sure there are any practical uses, but interesting none the less...
  29. gxa

    Finding Peak Values & Calculating Efficiency from Energy & Count Data

    At the end of the measurement I made with a detector, I only have the energy and count values as in the attached excel file. How can I find the peak values with the data I have and calculate the efficiency?
  30. D

    How to automate tests on a physical model without real data

    I want to code up a (physical) model of an aircraft or car, and I want to create an automated integrated test to check that the code produces reasonable and realistic results. For example, I want to check that the path taken by the aircraft or car is physical and reasonable. However, I don't...
  31. S

    Cellular or smartphone calls / texts / data when on a moving train

    Do smartphone users get good cellular service as well as good cellular data while on a moving passenger train? This is assuming no wi-fi available.
  32. A

    B It works but why? (Matching experimental data to a random equation)

    Hey guys, I've about a week left to submit my final paper for my trade degree in transportation. The paper is about an analysis of potential implementation of an electric car for direct deliveries in my area where I live. In part of it, I try to analyze how many possible trips a car like...
  33. jedishrfu

    The Data Science of Elizabeth Bik Unmasks Hydrochloraquin

    An article of data scientist Elizabeth Bik and her efforts to unmask the bad science surrounding Hydrochloraquin https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/stephaniemlee/elisabeth-bik-didier-raoult-hydroxychloroquine-study and some biographic info on Dr Bik: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisabeth_Bik
  34. ohwilleke

    I New Lepton Universality Data To Be Announced Tuesday, 18 October 2021

    One of the Standard Model's rules is that charged leptons (i.e. the electron, muon and tau lepton) are identical to each other in their properties except for their masses (and that their anti-particles are identical to them except for a charge-parity flip). But, in two kinds of rare...
  35. yucheng

    I Stromgren photometric data in Vizier

    I would like to try the photometric transform given in my book, for instance ##V = y - 0.12[(b-y) - 0.55]^2##, however, the two catalogs I've consulted, Paunzen, 2015 and Hauck, 1997 only provides the indices. Do these catalogs provide the uvby magnitudes as well, just hidden somewhere? Are...
  36. f95toli

    Storing device parameter data for a measurement system

    We are working on new software for one of our measurement systems (written in Python). The new system is capable of measuring more devices simultaneously than before so keeping track of what we are doing is important; it will also be more automated. One of the things we want to implement is...
  37. PainterGuy

    European data relay satellite system

    Hi, I was watching the following video. So, a low Earth orbit continuously transmits data to a geosynchronous satellite via a laser link. The geosynchronous satellite relays the data to a ground station on Earth via a radio link. In case of European Data Relay System (EDRS) laser communication...
  38. LCSphysicist

    Solving Uncertainty in Data Analysis with Spectrophotometry

    So i have a folder with a lot of data/information. Basically what i have is approximatelly 2k 2upla of x and y, because i need to find the function that describe the behavior of these data. Of course, i can use a program/software to fix/adjust the curve using the concept of OLS... BTW. The...
  39. J

    I How well do cosmological models explain the observed µ vs. z data?

    The following figure shows observed distance modulus (µ) vs. redshift (z) data (references of data sources are available): How well do cosmological models, such as ΛCDM and models based on non-expanding universe, explain these observed data? For explanation of terms, please see, Type Ia...
  40. W

    Principal component analysis and data compression in Machine Learning

    I wonder how to accurately perform data compression on the m x n matrix X using PCA. Each row is a data point, and each column is a feature. So m data points with n features. If I like to go k < n dimensions, how is the correct way of doing so? How to I accurately create the matrix W_k, which...
  41. T

    Engineering Data Science applied to Aerospace Engineering without AE background

    Apparently, DS can be applied to the Aero industry, but how is a question that I still can't find an answer, and which proves to be incredibly elusive online. I don't mean the Business Intelligence positions, I want to get more involved with the engineering team. Can a Data Scientist be useful...
  42. M

    MHB Calculating statistical values from given data

    Hey! :giggle: Analyst has collected the following data on the performance of the $X$ stock for $10$ different years. a) Calculate the arithmetic mean, the median, the mode, the standard deviation, the coefficient of variability and of asymmetry. You interpreted your results. b) Does the...
  43. bhobba

    COVID Israel: 86% Increase in Effectiveness with 3rd Pfizer Dose

    Data has come in from Isreal about the effectiveness of a third dose: https://www.straitstimes.com/world/middle-east/third-pfizer-dose-86-effective-in-over-60s-says-israel-healthcare-provider Remember this is 86% better than those that have already had two doses. I will leave it to others to...
  44. Evo

    T-Mobile says data breach affects more than 40 million people

    Security Alert Millions of T-Mobile customers’ information reportedly exposed in cybersecurity incident. Oh great! https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/18/tech/t-mobile-data-breach/index.html
  45. Wannabe Physicist

    Computing Errors when Data Sets are Given

    This is for the lab report I have to submit. ##n## is the refractive index. ##L## is the length of a gas chamber and ##m## is the number of fringes passed as the pressure in the gas chamber changes by ##\Delta p##. We are already given the error in ##L##. I performed the experiment and obtained...
  46. Q

    How to disable access to old data with newest version of software?

    Here are two examples: 1. Microsoft Excel. If you buy the newest version of Microsoft Office, it is able to open and read all files that were created with the older versions of Microsoft Office. Let's say that I have an older version of Microsoft Excel and I create some files with it. Later...
  47. chwala

    Determine the type of correlation for the two variables given in the data

    Kindly see the attached problem below (i find the topic to be easy and straightforward). My concern is only on the highlighted part: In my understanding, to define the type of correlation i have always approached a straightforward approach. For value ##1## perfect positive correlation and...
  48. S

    Minimum Frequency of FM Data / Catastrophic Error Scenario?

    Ever since I learned about FM something's been bugging me, which is that the PLL error correction acts on the encoded data, seeming to leave open the possibility of the shape of the data itself interfering with the PLL's interpretation of what the carrier frequency is. It seems dangerous to mix...
  49. K

    I Plotting Data in Papers

    Usually in papers there are many plots, and sometimes I do not understand how they plot them, with which kind of software or program they are plotted. I just attached three of the plots, I would be very thankful if you guide me, any of them is plotted with using which method, software or...
  50. Jarvis323

    Data Sources for Vaccination and Covid-19 cases by Age

    Is there an up to data source of data on the number of vaccines administered in the US by age and sex? And similarly is there up to date information on the number of Covid-19 cases by age and sex, as well as number of adverse events from Covid-19 infection?
Back
Top