There are few things to do before the course starts.

These include:

pre-course homework
setting up your computer
setting up communication channels

Pre-course homework

Biostatistics and machine learning is based on mathematics so we need to revise the basic concepts
Go to https://olgadet.github.io/mlbiostats-precourse-math/ and have a look at the seven chapters covering basics of mathematical notations, sets, functions, differentiation, integration, vectors and matrices
Find pen and paper and write down the solutions, or your best attempt, to the following exercises:
- Ex. 1.3: f, g, h
- Ex. 1.4: e, f, g, h
- Ex. 2.2
- Ex. 3.2, 3.3
- Ex. 4.6: h, i, j
- Ex. 5.1: i, j
- Ex. 6.1: e
- Ex. 7.1: h

Setting-up environment

During the course we will be using R programming language within RStudio Desktop editor. We will be writing scripts using R Markdown (.Rmd). We will try to keep coding as simple as possible, but we do assume that you have a basic understanding of R and your computer setup with RStudio and R version 3.5.0 or higher.

R skills that will be useful during the course are:

using R as calculator incl. raising values to a power
being able to work with vectors and matrices, incl. subsetting and matrices multiplication
reading in data from .csv files, e.g. with read.delim()
printing top few rows or last few rows, e.g. with head() and tail()
using in-built summary functions such as sum(), min() or max()
being able to use documentation pages for R functions, e.g. with help() or ?()
using if else statements, writing simple loops and functions.
making simple scatter plots of one numerical variable against another, both with plot() and ggplot()
being able to install CRAN packages e.g. with install.packages()
being familiar with R Markdown format

Some useful links to install and use R, RStudio and Markdown

https://nbisweden.github.io/workshop-mlbiostatistics/precourse-R/precourse-R

Setting-up communication

You should get enrolled to the Canvas course shortly. Check your inbox for an invitation email and accept the invite. Once on Canvas, do check that

you can access and solve the test quiz
you can say "Hi" in the Chat window
you can see and post to "Discussions". Please write few words under "Introduce yourself"

What to have

a laptop with R and R-Studio installations
a working web camera and a quiet space to take the course from (if online)
solutions (or attempts) to the exercises (see above precourse homework)
a pen and paper to write on

In case of any issues, do email us at edu.ml-biostats@nbis.se