describe() for statistical summary in Pandas - Cheat Sheet & Quick Revision

Recall & Review

beginner

What does the describe() function in pandas do?

It provides a quick statistical summary of numerical columns in a DataFrame, including count, mean, standard deviation, min, max, and quartiles.

beginner

Which statistics are included by default when you use describe() on a DataFrame?

Count, mean, standard deviation (std), minimum (min), 25% percentile, 50% percentile (median), 75% percentile, and maximum (max).

intermediate

How can you get a statistical summary of categorical data using describe()?

Use describe(include='object') or describe(include='category') to get count, unique values, top (most frequent) value, and frequency of the top value.

beginner

What is the output type of describe()?

It returns a pandas DataFrame containing the summary statistics for each column.

beginner

Can describe() be used on a single pandas Series? What does it return?

Yes, it can be used on a Series and returns a Series with summary statistics similar to those for DataFrames.

What does df.describe() show by default for numerical columns?

A Count, unique, top, freq

B Only mean and median

C Count, mean, std, min, 25%, 50%, 75%, max

D Only min and max

By default, describe() shows count, mean, standard deviation, min, quartiles, and max for numerical columns.

How do you get a summary of categorical columns using describe()?

A Use <code>describe(numeric_only=True)</code>

B Use <code>describe(include='object')</code>

C Use <code>describe()</code> without arguments

D Use <code>describe(exclude='object')</code>

To summarize categorical data, specify include='object' or include='category' in describe().

What type of object does describe() return?

A A pandas DataFrame or Series

B A Python list

C A NumPy array

D A string summary

describe() returns a pandas DataFrame when called on a DataFrame, or a Series when called on a Series.

Which of these is NOT included in the default describe() output for numerical data?

A Median

B Standard deviation

C Maximum

D Mode

Mode is not included by default in describe() output for numerical data.

If you want to include all columns regardless of type in describe(), what should you do?

A Use <code>describe(include='all')</code>

B Use <code>describe()</code> with no arguments

C Use <code>describe(numeric_only=True)</code>

D Use <code>describe(exclude='all')</code>

Using include='all' includes all columns in the summary regardless of data type.

Explain what the describe() function does in pandas and what kind of summary statistics it provides for numerical data.

Think about the quick overview it gives for numbers in your data.

How can you use describe() to get summary statistics for categorical columns? What information does it show?

Consider how categorical data differs from numerical data.