Introduction to Time Series Data

This lesson introduces time series data and why it behaves differently from ordinary tabular data. You will learn how ordered observations, timestamps, and sampling intervals shape analysis, what makes a series useful for forecasting, and how to recognize common structures such as trend, seasonality, cycles, and noise.

By the end, you should be able to identify a time series, describe its basic components, and spot practical issues like missing timestamps, irregular spacing, and outliers before moving into cleaning, decomposition, and forecasting methods later in the course.