Data science combines fields like statistics, programming, and domain expertise to extract meaningful insights from data. It involves preparing, analyzing, and modeling data to discover useful information. Exploratory data analysis is the process of investigating data to understand its characteristics and check assumptions before modeling. There are four types of EDA: univariate non-graphical, univariate graphical, multivariate non-graphical, and multivariate graphical. Python and R are popular tools used for EDA due to their data analysis and visualization capabilities.