NumPy Creating Arrays

Create a NumPy ndarray Object

NumPy is used to work with arrays. The array object in NumPy is called ndarray.

We can create a NumPy ndarray object by using the array() function.

Example

import numpy as np

arr = np.array([1, 2, 3, 4, 5])

print(arr)

print(type(arr))

Note: type(): This built-in Python function tells us the type of the object passed to it. Like in above code it shows that arr is numpy.ndarray type.

To create an ndarray, we can pass a list, tuple or any array-like object into the array() method, and it will be converted into an ndarray:

Example

import numpy as np

arr = np.array((1, 2, 3, 4, 5))

print(arr)

Dimensions in Arrays

A dimension in arrays is one level of array depth (nested arrays).

Note: nested array: are arrays that have arrays as their elements.

0-D Arrays

0-D arrays, or Scalars, are the elements in an array. Each value in an array is a 0-D array.

Example

  import numpy as np

arr = np.array(42)

print(arr)

1-D Arrays

An array that has 0-D arrays as its elements is called uni-dimensional or 1-D array.

These are the most common and basic arrays.

Example

  import numpy as np

arr = np.array([1, 2, 3, 4, 5])

print(arr)

2-D Arrays

An array that has 1-D arrays as its elements is called a 2-D array.

These are often used to represent matrix or 2nd order tensors.

Note: NumPy has a whole sub module dedicated towards matrix operations called numpy.mat

Example

  import numpy as np

arr = np.array([[1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6]])

print(arr)

3-D arrays

An array that has 2-D arrays (matrices) as its elements is called 3-D array.

These are often used to represent a 3rd order tensor.

Example

  import numpy as np

arr = np.array([[[1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6]], [[1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6]]])

print(arr)

Check Number of Dimensions?

NumPy Arrays provides the ndim attribute that returns an integer that tells us how many dimensions the array have.

Example

  import numpy as np

a = np.array(42)
b = np.array([1, 2, 3, 4, 5])
  c = np.array([[1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6]])
d = np.array([[[1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6]], [[1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6]]])

print(a.ndim)
print(b.ndim)

print(c.ndim)
print(d.ndim)

Higher Dimensional Arrays

An array can have any number of dimensions.

When the array is created, you can define the number of dimensions by using the ndmin argument.

Example

  import numpy as np

arr = np.array([1, 2, 3, 4], ndmin=5)

print(arr)
  print('number of dimensions :', arr.ndim)

In this array the innermost dimension (5th dim) has 4 elements, the 4th dim has 1 element that is the vector, the 3rd dim has 1 element that is the matrix with the vector, the 2nd dim has 1 element that is 3D array and 1st dim has 1 element that is a 4D array.