Overview

A financial calculation needs numbers, labels and a way to inspect the result. NumPy handles numerical arrays; pandas keeps dates and instrument labels; Matplotlib draws a chart. This topic introduces those tools with small datasets after the Python foundations. Keep the meaning of each axis and column explicit as the calculation grows.

By the end of this note you should be able to:

• calculate with NumPy arrays rather than scalar loops;
• create, select and validate a pandas table;
• plot and save a labelled financial time series with Matplotlib.

1. Contents
2. The big picture