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Precourse


There are few things to do before the course starts.

These include:

  1. pre-course homework 
  2. setting up your computer
  3. 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/ Links to an external site. 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 

 

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