Understanding axes in NumPy
Question:
I was going through NumPy documentation, and am not able to understand one point. It mentions, for the example below, the array has rank 2 (it is 2-dimensional). The first dimension (axis) has a length of 2, the second dimension has a length of 3.
[[ 1., 0., 0.],
[ 0., 1., 2.]]
How does the first dimension (axis) have a length of 2?
Edit:
The reason for my confusion is the below statement in the documentation.
The coordinates of a point in 3D space [1, 2, 1] is an array of rank
1, because it has one axis. That axis has a length of 3.
In the original 2D ndarray, I assumed that the number of lists identifies the rank/dimension, and I wrongly assumed that the length of each list denotes the length of each dimension (in that order). So, as per my understanding, the first dimension should be having a length of 3, since the length of the first list is 3.
Answers:
You may be confusing the other sentence with the picture example below. Think of it like this: Rank = number of lists in the list(array) and the term length in your question can be thought of length = the number of 'things' in the list(array)
I think they are trying to describe to you the definition of shape which is in this case (2,3)
in that post I think the key sentence is here:
In NumPy dimensions are called axes. The number of axes is rank.
If you print the numpy array
print(np.array([[ 1. 0. 0.],[ 0. 1. 2.]])
You’ll get the following output
#col1 col2 col3
[[ 1. 0. 0.] # row 1
[ 0. 1. 2.]] # row 2
Think of it as a 2 by 3 matrix… 2 rows, 3 columns. It is a 2d array because it is a list of lists. ([[ at the start is a hint its 2d)).
The 2d numpy array
np.array([[ 1. 0., 0., 6.],[ 0. 1. 2., 7.],[3.,4.,5,8.]])
would print as
#col1 col2 col3 col4
[[ 1. 0. , 0., 6.] # row 1
[ 0. 1. , 2., 7.] # row 2
[3., 4. , 5., 8.]] # row 3
This is a 3 by 4 2d array (3 rows, 4 columns)
The first dimensions is the length:
In [11]: a = np.array([[ 1., 0., 0.], [ 0., 1., 2.]])
In [12]: a
Out[12]:
array([[ 1., 0., 0.],
[ 0., 1., 2.]])
In [13]: len(a) # "length of first dimension"
Out[13]: 2
The second is the length of each “row”:
In [14]: [len(aa) for aa in a] # 3 is "length of second dimension"
Out[14]: [3, 3]
Many numpy functions take axis as an argument, for example you can sum over an axis:
In [15]: a.sum(axis=0)
Out[15]: array([ 1., 1., 2.])
In [16]: a.sum(axis=1)
Out[16]: array([ 1., 3.])
The thing to note is that you can have higher dimensional arrays:
In [21]: b = np.array([[[1., 0., 0.], [ 0., 1., 2.]]])
In [22]: b
Out[22]:
array([[[ 1., 0., 0.],
[ 0., 1., 2.]]])
In [23]: b.sum(axis=2)
Out[23]: array([[ 1., 3.]])
In numpy, axis ordering follows zyx convention, instead of the usual (and maybe more intuitive) xyz.
Visually, it means that for a 2D array where the horizontal axis is x and the vertical axis is y:
x -->
y 0 1 2
| 0 [[1., 0., 0.],
V 1 [0., 1., 2.]]
The shape of this array is (2, 3) because it is ordered (y, x), with the first axis y of length 2.
And verifying this with slicing:
import numpy as np
a = np.array([[1, 0, 0], [0, 1, 2]], dtype=np.float)
>>> a
Out[]:
array([[ 1., 0., 0.],
[ 0., 1., 2.]])
>>> a[0, :] # Slice index 0 of first axis
Out[]: array([ 1., 0., 0.]) # Get values along second axis `x` of length 3
>>> a[:, 2] # Slice index 2 of second axis
Out[]: array([ 0., 2.]) # Get values along first axis `y` of length 2
Keep the following points in mind when considering Numpy axes:
- Each sub-level of a list (or array) represents an axis. For example:
import numpy as np
a = np.array([1,2]) # 1 axis
b = np.array([[1,2],[3,4]]) # 2 axes
c = np.array([[[1,2],[3,4]],[[5,6],[7,8]]]) # 3 axes
-
Axis labels correspond to the level of the sub-list they represent, starting with axis 0 for the outer most list.
To illustrate this, consider the following array of different shape, each with 24 elements:
# 1D Array
a0 = np.array(
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24]
)
a0.shape # (24,) - here, the length along the 0-axis is 24
# 2D Array
a01 = np.array(
[
[1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4],
[2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4],
[3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4],
[4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4],
[5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4],
[6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4]
]
)
a01.shape # (6, 4) - now, the length along the 0-axis is 6
# 3D Array
a012 = np.array(
[
[
[1.1.1, 1.1.2],
[1.2.1, 1.2.2],
[1.3.1, 1.3.2]
],
[
[2.1.1, 2.1.2],
[2.2.1, 2.2.2],
[2.3.1, 2.3.2]
],
[
[3.1.1, 3.1.2],
[3.2.1, 3.2.2],
[3.3.1, 3.3.2]
],
[
[4.1.1, 4.1.2],
[4.2.1, 4.2.2],
[4.3.1, 4.3.2]
]
)
a012.shape # (4, 3, 2) - and finally, the length along the 0-axis is 4
I was going through NumPy documentation, and am not able to understand one point. It mentions, for the example below, the array has rank 2 (it is 2-dimensional). The first dimension (axis) has a length of 2, the second dimension has a length of 3.
[[ 1., 0., 0.],
[ 0., 1., 2.]]
How does the first dimension (axis) have a length of 2?
Edit:
The reason for my confusion is the below statement in the documentation.
The coordinates of a point in 3D space [1, 2, 1] is an array of rank
1, because it has one axis. That axis has a length of 3.
In the original 2D ndarray, I assumed that the number of lists identifies the rank/dimension, and I wrongly assumed that the length of each list denotes the length of each dimension (in that order). So, as per my understanding, the first dimension should be having a length of 3, since the length of the first list is 3.
You may be confusing the other sentence with the picture example below. Think of it like this: Rank = number of lists in the list(array) and the term length in your question can be thought of length = the number of 'things' in the list(array)
I think they are trying to describe to you the definition of shape which is in this case (2,3)
in that post I think the key sentence is here:
In NumPy dimensions are called axes. The number of axes is rank.
If you print the numpy array
print(np.array([[ 1. 0. 0.],[ 0. 1. 2.]])
You’ll get the following output
#col1 col2 col3
[[ 1. 0. 0.] # row 1
[ 0. 1. 2.]] # row 2
Think of it as a 2 by 3 matrix… 2 rows, 3 columns. It is a 2d array because it is a list of lists. ([[ at the start is a hint its 2d)).
The 2d numpy array
np.array([[ 1. 0., 0., 6.],[ 0. 1. 2., 7.],[3.,4.,5,8.]])
would print as
#col1 col2 col3 col4
[[ 1. 0. , 0., 6.] # row 1
[ 0. 1. , 2., 7.] # row 2
[3., 4. , 5., 8.]] # row 3
This is a 3 by 4 2d array (3 rows, 4 columns)
The first dimensions is the length:
In [11]: a = np.array([[ 1., 0., 0.], [ 0., 1., 2.]])
In [12]: a
Out[12]:
array([[ 1., 0., 0.],
[ 0., 1., 2.]])
In [13]: len(a) # "length of first dimension"
Out[13]: 2
The second is the length of each “row”:
In [14]: [len(aa) for aa in a] # 3 is "length of second dimension"
Out[14]: [3, 3]
Many numpy functions take axis as an argument, for example you can sum over an axis:
In [15]: a.sum(axis=0)
Out[15]: array([ 1., 1., 2.])
In [16]: a.sum(axis=1)
Out[16]: array([ 1., 3.])
The thing to note is that you can have higher dimensional arrays:
In [21]: b = np.array([[[1., 0., 0.], [ 0., 1., 2.]]])
In [22]: b
Out[22]:
array([[[ 1., 0., 0.],
[ 0., 1., 2.]]])
In [23]: b.sum(axis=2)
Out[23]: array([[ 1., 3.]])
In numpy, axis ordering follows zyx convention, instead of the usual (and maybe more intuitive) xyz.
Visually, it means that for a 2D array where the horizontal axis is x and the vertical axis is y:
x -->
y 0 1 2
| 0 [[1., 0., 0.],
V 1 [0., 1., 2.]]
The shape of this array is (2, 3) because it is ordered (y, x), with the first axis y of length 2.
And verifying this with slicing:
import numpy as np
a = np.array([[1, 0, 0], [0, 1, 2]], dtype=np.float)
>>> a
Out[]:
array([[ 1., 0., 0.],
[ 0., 1., 2.]])
>>> a[0, :] # Slice index 0 of first axis
Out[]: array([ 1., 0., 0.]) # Get values along second axis `x` of length 3
>>> a[:, 2] # Slice index 2 of second axis
Out[]: array([ 0., 2.]) # Get values along first axis `y` of length 2
Keep the following points in mind when considering Numpy axes:
- Each sub-level of a list (or array) represents an axis. For example:
import numpy as np
a = np.array([1,2]) # 1 axis
b = np.array([[1,2],[3,4]]) # 2 axes
c = np.array([[[1,2],[3,4]],[[5,6],[7,8]]]) # 3 axes
-
Axis labels correspond to the level of the sub-list they represent, starting with axis
0for the outer most list.To illustrate this, consider the following array of different shape, each with 24 elements:
# 1D Array
a0 = np.array(
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24]
)
a0.shape # (24,) - here, the length along the 0-axis is 24
# 2D Array
a01 = np.array(
[
[1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4],
[2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4],
[3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4],
[4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4],
[5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4],
[6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4]
]
)
a01.shape # (6, 4) - now, the length along the 0-axis is 6
# 3D Array
a012 = np.array(
[
[
[1.1.1, 1.1.2],
[1.2.1, 1.2.2],
[1.3.1, 1.3.2]
],
[
[2.1.1, 2.1.2],
[2.2.1, 2.2.2],
[2.3.1, 2.3.2]
],
[
[3.1.1, 3.1.2],
[3.2.1, 3.2.2],
[3.3.1, 3.3.2]
],
[
[4.1.1, 4.1.2],
[4.2.1, 4.2.2],
[4.3.1, 4.3.2]
]
)
a012.shape # (4, 3, 2) - and finally, the length along the 0-axis is 4