Introduction

Visualization is a critical component in exploratory data analysis, as well as presentations and applications. During exploratory data analysis, you are usually working alone or in small groups and need to create plots quickly to help you better understand your data. It can help you identify outliers and missing data, or it can spark other questions of interest that will lead to further analysis and more visualizations. This type of visualization is usually not done with the end user in mind. It is strictly to help you better your current understanding. The plots do not have to be perfect.

When preparing visualizations for a report or application, a different approach must be used. You should pay attention to small details. Also, you usually will have to narrow down all possible visualizations to only the select few that best represent your data. Good data visualizations have the viewer enjoying the experience of extracting information. Almost like movies that make...