Normalization

Normalization converts data to a scale in which useful differences will be amplified and redundant differences will be suppressed.

Why it matters: Data can be in different scales, units, and range. Normalization allows you to compare.

• Normalization helps with comparing apples to oranges by converting both to cherries.
• You can normalize data by converting them into ratios or percentages.

Example: Can you compare the GDP of India and UK? No, this isn’t a like-to-like comparison because both countries are vastly different in size, population, etc. Hence, you’ve to normalize the data into a ratio, i.e. GDP per person — divide the GDP/population for an accurate comparison. This is normalization!