In the previous post in this series, we set out the basic Python code required to simulate a single game of snakes and ladders. In order to analyse the game in more detail we will be required to simulate multiple random games so that we can look at certain properties, such as expected game lengths, […]
Technical Skills
Snakes and Ladders (Part 1 of 3): Analysing the classic children’s game
In this short series of three blog posts we show how easy it can be to take an everyday activity and analyse it using Python, gaining insights that might illuminate or in some cases even surprise… Anyone who has ever played games against young children knows that they absolutely must go first, and my daughter Eva is […]
Data guidelines: A set of recommendations for clean and usable data
The extent to which a dataset follows a set of commonly expected guidelines will often determine how much time you have left to spend thinking about your analysis. Ideally, you might intend to spend 20% of your time cleaning the data for a project, and 80% planning and carrying out your actual analysis. But often, […]
LA maps of crime: Using R to map criminal activity in LA since 2010
I’ve recently come across data.gov — a huge resource for open data. At the time of writing, there are close to 17,000 freely available datasets stored there. Interestingly, this dataset includes almost 1.6M records of criminal activity occurring in LA since 2010 — all of them described according to a variety of measures. Using information like the date and time […]
Winning Pub Quizzes with pandas
I was in my local pub quiz recently when as usual we were faced with the anagram speed round. The quiz-master Dr Paul reads out a collection of words with a clue to a mystery person’s identity, and the first team to correctly shout out the answer wins a spot prize. It’s often a box […]
Five ways GDPR will drive innovation
By Brian Hills, Head of Data at The Data Lab — In 1998 there was no Google, Facebook or Twitter, no mobile internet, no Big Data. Yet this period was the last major update to data protection regulation in Europe. Since that time, the internet economy has become an integral part in all of our […]
An Introduction to Augmented Reality App Development
Guest blog post from Waracle What is Augmented Reality (AR)? The world of mobile technology moves at lightning pace. If you’re a software development manager, trying to stay on top of the latest trends it is almost a full-time job in itself. Staying in tune with the latest trends is tricky that’s why we’re […]
A much better way to visualise data: NULLMIGHTY
Guest post by Astrid Michelsen, Client Relations Specialist at nullmighty We live in a world of visualisation. There is so much information we share we need to adapt our time schedule, our devices, and our relationships to adequately absorb all this amount of information. Data visualisation is a relatively new solution for this collection […]
Can a Computer Understand ‘Love’?
Guest blog post by Douglas McGarrie, CTO IBM Scotland. The US Open Tennis Championships have just started. IBM CTO for Scotland, Douglas McGarrie, discusses some of the things IBM is doing with data and technology in tennis… and in particular, how to answer the question, ‘Can a Computer Understand Love?’ — Like many, I’ll be […]
Secret Santa and a Derangement of The Data Lab
Author: Richard Carter, Data Scientist at The Data Lab Here at The Data Lab we love Data Science so much, we couldn’t even let Christmas celebrations go without it. In this blog post, Richard Carter explains how he organised this year’s Secret Santa at The Data Lab, using Python and derangements. It’s been a long, […]