Let's get right into it! In this chapter, you'll become acclimated with Python syntax, loading your data into a Python session, and how to explore and edit this data to answer business questions.

Welcome to Python!

Importing packages

Loading data

Looking at data with print()

DataFrames and their methods

The .head() method

.info() and .describe() methods

The .sort_values() method

Filtering rows and creating columns

Filtering

Creating columns

Putting it all together

Diving In

The pivot table is a core tool in the savvy spreadsheet user's arsenal. In this chapter, we'll focus on simply recreating this functionality in Python using some handy DataFrame methods.

Grouping and summing: the beginner's pivot table

Pure summary with .sum()

.groupby() and .sum() together

Summarizing and sorting values

Grouping by multiple columns

Which is a list?

Movie genre performance by location

What do seniors like?

More useful summary tools

Best-selling movie by location

Which movie averages the most sales

Pivoting in Python

This chapter will focus on how to import and manage multiple sheets from a workbook, as well as how to join these sheets together using the Python equivalent of a VLOOKUP: the left join.

Working with multiple sheets

pd.ExcelFile() function

.sheet_names attribute

.parse() method

Preparing to put tables together

.str.lower() and .str.title()

.str.strip()

Selecting and .drop()

Merging: The VLOOKUP of Python

Merging for ticket prices

Merging for theater locations

Putting it all together again

Working with Multiple Sheets

Now that you're able to import and manipulate your data in Python, let's shift our focus to visualizing this data so that our insights are easily communicable to others.

How visualization works in Python

How to build a graph in Python

Top grossing films

Best genres

Building up the barplot

Put a title on it

Label your axes!

Make it pretty with sns

The power of hue

Interpreting hue

Genre by market

Genre by ticket type

Wrapping up

Plotting Data

Movie Theater Sales dataset

Are you looking for a better solution than the one you’ve built in a spreadsheet? If so, then Python for Spreadsheet Users is a great introduction to the Python language, and will put you on the right path towards automating repetitive work, diving deeper into your data, and widening the scope of what you are capable of accomplishing. Throughout the course, we’ll draw parallels to common spreadsheet functions and techniques, so you’ll always have a familiar reference point as you dive head first into Python.

Pivot Tables in Google Sheets

Use your knowledge of common spreadsheet functions and techniques to explore Python! 

Python for Spreadsheet Users

How to build a graph in Python

Python for Spreadsheet Users

Hands-on interactive exercise