[Numpy-discussion] Implementation of tensor product and tensor contraction?

[Charles R Harris]

Take a look as einsum, it is quite good for such things.

Chuck

On Tue, Nov 25, 2014 at 9:06 PM, Yuxiang Wang <yw5aj at virginia.edu> wrote:

> Dear all,
>
> I have been doing tensor algebra recently (for continuum mechanics)
> and was looking into two common operations: tensor product & tensor
> contraction.
>
> 1. Tensor product
>
> One common usage is:
> a[i1, i2, i3, ..., iN, j1, j2, j3, ..., jM] = b[i1, i2, i3, ..., iN] *
> c[j1, j2, j3, ..., jM]
>
> I looked into the current np.outer(), and the only difference is that
> it always flattens the input array. So actually, the function for
> tensor product is simply
>
> np.outer(a, b, out=out).reshape(a.shape+b.shape)  <-- I think I got
> this right but please do correct me if I am wrong
>
> Would anyone think it helpful or harmful to add such a function,
> np.tensorprod()? it will simply be like
> def tensorprod(a, b, out=None):
>     return outer(a, b, out=out).reshape(a.shape+b.shape)
>
>
> 2. Tensor contraction
>
> It is currently the np.tensordot(a, b) and it will do np.tensordot(a,
> b, axes=2) by default. I think this is all great, but it would be even
> better if we specify in the doc, that:
>     i) say explicitly that by default it will be the double-dot or
> contraction operator, and
>     ii) explain that in cases where axes is an integer-like scalar,
> which axes were selected from the two array and in what order. Like:
> if axes is an integer-like scalar, it is the number axes to sum over,
> equivalent to axes=(list(range(-axes, 0)), list(range(0, axes)))   (or
> something like this)
>
>
> It'd be great to hear what you would think about it,
>
> Shawn
>
>
> --
> Yuxiang "Shawn" Wang
> Gerling Research Lab
> University of Virginia
> yw5aj at virginia.edu
> +1 (434) 284-0836
> https://sites.google.com/a/virginia.edu/yw5aj/
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