How to generate exponentially increasing range in Python

Question:

I want to test the performance of some code using an exponentially increasing value. So that as an extra digit is added to the numbers_size the increment is multiplied by 10. This is how I’m doing it so far but it looks a bit hacky. Suggestions for improvements without introducing non-standard libraries?

numbers_size = 100
increment = 100
numbers_range = 1000000000
while numbers_size < numbers_range:
    t = time.time()
    test( numbers_size )
    taken_t = time.time() - t
    print numbers_size, test, taken_t

    increment = 10 ** (len(str(numbers_size))-1)
    numbers_size += increment
Asked By: Martlark

||

Answers:

example of ‘NOT reading the question properly’ and ‘NOT how to do it

for i in xrange(100, 1000000000, 100):
    # timer
    test(i)
    # whatever

Is about as simple as it gets… adjust xrange accordingly

Answered By: Jon Clements

The simplest thing to do is to use a linear sequence of exponents:

for e in range(1, 90):
    i = int(10**(e/10.0))
    test(i)

You can abstract the sequence into its own generator:

def exponent_range(max, nsteps):
    max_e = math.log10(max)
    for e in xrange(1, nsteps+1):
        yield int(10**(e*max_e/nsteps))

for i in exponent_range(10**9, nsteps=100):
    test(i)
Answered By: Ned Batchelder

Why not

for exponent in range(2, 10):
    test(10 ** exponent)

if I’m reading your intent right.

Answered By: msw

Using a generator expression:

max_exponent = 100
for i in (10**n for n in xrange(1, max_exponent)):
    test(i)
Answered By: monkut

I like Ned Batcheldor’s answer, but I would make it a bit more general:

def exp_range(start, end, mul):
    while start < end:
        yield start
        start *= mul

then your code becomes

for sz in exp_range(100, 1000000000, 10):
    t = time.time()
    test(sz)
    print sz, test(sz), time.time()-t
Answered By: Hugh Bothwell

To produce the same numbers as your code:

numbers_sizes = (i*10**exp for exp in range(2, 9) for i in range(1, 10))
for n in numbers_sizes:
    test(n)
Answered By: jfs

If you consider numpy as one of the standards ;), you may use numpy.logspace since that is what it is supposed to do…. (note: 100=10^2, 1000000000=10^9)

for n in numpy.logspace(2,9,num=9-2, endpoint=False):
    test(n)

example 2 (note: 100=10^2, 1000000000=10^9, want to go at a step 10x, it is 9-2+1 points…):

In[14]: np.logspace(2,9,num=9-2+1,base=10,dtype='int')
Out[14]: 
array([       100,       1000,      10000,     100000,    1000000,
         10000000,  100000000, 1000000000])

example 3:

In[10]: np.logspace(2,9,dtype='int')
Out[10]: 
array([       100,        138,        193,        268,        372,
              517,        719,       1000,       1389,       1930,
             2682,       3727,       5179,       7196,      10000,
            13894,      19306,      26826,      37275,      51794,
            71968,     100000,     138949,     193069,     268269,
           372759,     517947,     719685,    1000000,    1389495,
          1930697,    2682695,    3727593,    5179474,    7196856,
         10000000,   13894954,   19306977,   26826957,   37275937,
         51794746,   71968567,  100000000,  138949549,  193069772,
        268269579,  372759372,  517947467,  719685673, 1000000000])

on your case, we use endpoint=False since you want not to include the endpoint… (e.g. np.logspace(2,9,num=9-2, endpoint=False) )

Answered By: ntg

OP wrote “Suggestions for improvements without introducing non-standard libraries?”

Just for completeness, here’s a recipe for generating exponential ranges – each element is a fixed factor bigger than the previous:

from math import exp
from math import log

def frange(start, stop, numelements):
    """range function for floats"""
    incr = (stop - start) / numelements
    return (start + x * incr for x in range(numelements))

def exprange(start, stop, numelements):
    """exponential range - each element is a fixed factor bigger than the previous"""
    return (exp(x) for x in frange(log(start), log(stop), numelements))

Test:

print(", ".join("%.3f" % x for x in exprange(3,81,6)))

Output:

3.000, 5.196, 9.000, 15.588, 27.000, 46.765
Answered By: Holger Bille

In case you don’t want to use any libraries or extra function definitions:

for n in [10**m for m in range(d)]:
    print(n)

This list comprehension will do what you want.

d is a number of digits. Convert to string and calculate the length if needed.

d = len(str(numbers_range))
Answered By: Jake Fetiu Kim
Categories: questions Tags:
Answers are sorted by their score. The answer accepted by the question owner as the best is marked with
at the top-right corner.