Why Julia?

Mean dataset size for data processing has increased dramatically []. While there are state-of-the-art techniques to streamline the data processing and analysis over large datasets, most involve above-average and in many cases large computing power. A typical data analyst does not have access to special computing hardware and/or powerful distributed software.  What is a common aspect among different fields that process large datasets? Some form of numerical computing!

               Numerical computing is computation on numbers- application of basic numerical functions on some form of information (i.e., data). Linear algebra, trigonometry, differential equations and Markov chains are examples of numerical computing methods. For example, you are an astronomer and you would like to predict the movement of a far away star along the sky. What parameters do you need to take into consideration? The star’s current position in the sky- you can measure it using coordinates. Yes, they are similar to geographical coordinates i.e. latitude and longitudes but with additional metrics. The star’s coordinates are measured in RA (Right Ascension) and dec (declination). A pair of metrics, Magnitude and Centaurus, are the brightness of the star and the relative location of the star from the constellation Centaurus. Everything is measured in relative terms because stars are millions of light years away and therefore are not accurate. We would like to get our best estimate using mathematics. Online Star Register [2] will give you a brief rundown on how you can locate a star in the sky. Now that the prerequisite knowledge is out of the way, let us see how you can model the star’s path in the sky using linear algebra.