Rescaling Variables
While you're welcome to rescale the old fashioned way (with fractions), R makes things easer. Simply create a new variable that equals the old variable times an adjustment (e.g., price in dollars = euro*RATE)
What is rescaling?
Rescaling is a process used in data preprocessing to transform numerical variables to a different scale. For example, we may convert dollars to euros to explains something to a colleague in Germany.
Why rescale?
We'll talk about many types of rescaling and data transformation throughout the class. For example, Normalization or standardization are types of rescaling that transform numerical variables to a common scale.
For example, if 4 eggs cost $2, 12 eggs cost $5, and 24 eggs costs $11, we could calculate the price per egg to make sure we're getting the best deal.