[Numpy-discussion] please change mean to use dtype=float
Robert Kern
robert.kern at gmail.com
Tue Sep 19 20:18:52 EDT 2006
Sebastian Haase wrote:
> (don't know how to say this for complex types !? Are here real and imag
> treated separately / independently ?)
Yes. For mean(), there's really no alternative. Scalar variance is not a
well-defined concept for complex numbers, but treating the real and imaginary
parts separately is a sensible and (partially) informative thing to do. Simply
applying the formula for estimating variance for real numbers to complex numbers
(i.e. change "x" to "z") is a meaningless operation.
--
Robert Kern
"I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma
that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had
an underlying truth."
-- Umberto Eco
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