Wrong Convertation?
Well, we have found out that the initial data contains dates in the format dd-mm-yyyy. The datetime module reads dates in the yyyy-mm-dd format, which is fine. However, how will datetime convert the date 2010-05-02? Since we are familiar with the dataset, we know that it represents February 5, 2010. But datetime doesn't know this and may consider this date as May 2, 2010. Let's check if this has happened in our data.
Unfortunately, it has. Let's compare the first three dates in their initial and converted formats:
| Initial date | Converted date |
| 05-02-2010 | 2010-05-02 |
| 12-02-2010 | 2010-12-02 |
| 19-02-2010 | 2010-02-19 |
It is visible that for the first two dates, the left numbers were chosen as months, while for the third date, the left number was chosen as the day (the correct approach). Therefore, we need to make pandas understand the format of the dates we are working with.
Everything was clear?
Course Content
Analyzing and Visualizing Real-World Data
Analyzing and Visualizing Real-World Data
2. Preprocessing Data: Part II
Wrong Convertation?
Well, we have found out that the initial data contains dates in the format dd-mm-yyyy. The datetime module reads dates in the yyyy-mm-dd format, which is fine. However, how will datetime convert the date 2010-05-02? Since we are familiar with the dataset, we know that it represents February 5, 2010. But datetime doesn't know this and may consider this date as May 2, 2010. Let's check if this has happened in our data.
Unfortunately, it has. Let's compare the first three dates in their initial and converted formats:
| Initial date | Converted date |
| 05-02-2010 | 2010-05-02 |
| 12-02-2010 | 2010-12-02 |
| 19-02-2010 | 2010-02-19 |
It is visible that for the first two dates, the left numbers were chosen as months, while for the third date, the left number was chosen as the day (the correct approach). Therefore, we need to make pandas understand the format of the dates we are working with.
Everything was clear?
