[Numpy-discussion] A case for rank-0 arrays

[Colin J. Williams]

Francesc Altet wrote:

>A Divendres 24 Febrer 2006 02:47, vàreu escriure:
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>
>>Could these be considered as dimensionless, to avoid having to explain
>>to people that the word rank doesn't have the same meaning as the matrix
>>rank?
>>    
>>
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>Colin Williams was proposing calling arrays coming from array(5) as
>'dimensionless'. So, for the moment, we have three ways to name such a
>beasts:
>
>- 'rank-0'
>- '0-dimensional' or '0-dim' for short
>- 'dimensionless'
>
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My suggestion was based on the usage of rank, with a different meaning, 
in matrices.
n-dim, with n= 0 .. ? seems a neat way around.

Colin W.

>Perhaps the time has come to choose a number for them (if we have to
>live with such array for a long time, as it seems to be the case).
>
>However, as more I think on this the more I'm convinced that,
>similarly to their higher dimension counterparts, we will not arrive
>to any definite agreement and people will continue to call them in any
>way he would be more comfortable with. IMO, this should be not a
>problem at all because all three words express a 'lack of
>dimensionality'.
>
>Cheers,
>
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