Column A has (M for Males and F for Females) Column B has (G for Germany and C for Canada) Can i create a dummy variable below: column A.map( {M:1, F:2} ) and similarly column B.map( {'G':1, 'C':2} ) That's using the same dummies values(1,and 2) for the different columns (A and B)

Hey Derry, Thank you for your question! Yes, you can, in principle, map the categorical variables to values different from 0 and 1. This would not affect the end result. According to best practice, however, the values 0 and 1 are generally used as they are easily interpretable. Zero would represent the absence of a certain category, whereas unity would represent its presence. Using values different from 0 and 1 would also make the regression equation more difficult to interpret. Hope this helps! Kind regards, 365 Hristina