As actuaries work more and more with teams of data scientists and software engineers, they are more likely to encounter use of the Python programming language. While R is an environment for performing statistical analysis, Python is a general purpose programming language.

This workshop will provide an introduction to Python and show how to perform data collection, data visualization, and data analysis in Python. There will be six 90-minute sessions.

We are looking forward to seeing you at the Python virtual workshop! Before the first session, there are a few things you will need to do. The instructors will be using the Colaboratory platform to program and we recommend that you do the same. Using Colab will require the use of a Google account. You can read more about that here: https://colab.research.google.com. If a Google account is an issue, you should consider downloading Anaconda (https://www.anaconda.com/distribution/), which will allow you to install Python and Jupyter to your machine.

Between Colab and Anaconda, we strongly recommend the Colab platform. Colab is a fantastic, cloud-based environment which obviates virtually all of the installation and technical questions that we typically receive at these kinds of workshops. If you do go the Anaconda route, make sure that you install Python 3.7.