Today we’re going to talk about Python window functions the most exciting thing since sliced bread (or maybe not).
But seriously, these functions are pretty ***** useful for analyzing data and can save you a ton of time. So let’s dive in!
To set the stage: what exactly is a window function? Well, it’s essentially a way to analyze a subset of related values within your dataset. This can be really helpful when working with large datasets or trying to identify trends over time.
So how do you implement these functions in Python? Let’s take a look at some examples:
1. `rolling_mean` calculates the mean of a rolling window (i.e., moving average)
# Import the pandas library as "pd"
import pandas as pd
# Create a dataframe with a column named "price" and values of 5, 7, 9, 2, 4
df = pd.DataFrame({'price': [5, 7, 9, 2, 4]})
# Calculate the rolling mean of the "price" column using a window size of 3
rolling_window = df['price'].rolling(window=3).mean()
# Print the results of the rolling mean calculation
print(rolling_window)
# Output:
# 0 NaN
# 1 NaN
# 2 7.000000
# 3 6.000000
# 4 5.000000
# Name: price, dtype: float64
# The rolling mean function calculates the mean of a rolling window, which is a subset of data points within a specified window size.
# In this case, the window size is 3, so the first two values are NaN (not a number) because there are not enough data points to calculate the mean.
# The third value is the mean of the first three values (5, 7, 9), and so on.
# This can be useful for identifying trends or smoothing out noisy data.
Output:
# The following code creates a dataframe with a column named "price" and 5 rows of data
df = pd.DataFrame({'price': [np.nan, 6.5, 7.5, 4.5, 4.0]}) # Creates a dataframe with a column named "price" and 5 rows of data
# The following code prints the dataframe
print(df) # Prints the dataframe to the console, displaying the column "price" and its corresponding values in each row
2. `shift` shifts the values in a series by a specified number of periods (i.e., lagging)
# Import pandas library
import pandas as pd
# Create a dataframe
df = pd.DataFrame({'price': [10, 20, 30, 40, 50]})
# Use the shift function to shift the values in the 'price' column by 1 period
df['lagged_price'] = df['price'].shift(periods=1)
# Print the 'price' and 'lagged_price' columns of the dataframe
print(df[['price', 'lagged_price']])
# Output:
# price lagged_price
# 0 10 NaN
# 1 20 10.0
# 2 30 20.0
# 3 40 30.0
# 4 50 40.0
# The shift function shifts the values in a series by a specified number of periods (i.e., lagging)
# In this case, the 'price' column is shifted by 1 period, so the first value becomes NaN (not a number)
# The 'lagged_price' column now contains the previous value of 'price' for each row
Output:
# The following code creates a dataframe with two columns: price and lagged_price
# The lagged_price column will contain the previous value of the price column, shifted by one row
import pandas as pd # Importing the pandas library to work with dataframes
# Creating the dataframe with the given values
df = pd.DataFrame({'price': [5.0, 7.0, 9.0, 2.0, 4.0]})
# Creating a new column called lagged_price and assigning it the value of the price column, shifted by one row
df['lagged_price'] = df['price'].shift(1)
# Printing the dataframe to see the output
print(df)
# Output:
# price lagged_price
# 0 5.0 NaN
# 1 7.0 5.0
# 2 9.0 7.0
# 3 2.0 9.0
# 4 4.0 2.0
3. `rolling_std` calculates the standard deviation of a rolling window (i.e., moving volatility)
# Calculates the standard deviation of a rolling window with a window size of 5
df['volatility'] = df['price'].rolling(window=5).std()
# Prints the columns 'price' and 'volatility' from the dataframe
print(df[['price', 'volatility']])
Output:
# Importing necessary libraries
import pandas as pd
# Creating a dataframe with two columns - price and volatility
df = pd.DataFrame({'price': [5.0, 7.0, 9.0, 2.0, 4.0], 'volatility': [None, 2.368498, 2.581989, 2.581989, 1.870798]})
# Printing the dataframe
print(df)
# Output:
# price volatility
# 0 5.0 NaN
# 1 7.0 2.368498
# 2 9.0 2.581989
# 3 2.0 2.581989
# 4 4.0 1.870798
These are just a few examples, but there are many other window functions available in Python (and SQL) that can be really helpful for data analysis.
So if you’re working with large datasets or trying to identify trends over time, give these functions a try! They might just save you some serious headaches and help you uncover insights you never knew existed.