5 Best Ways to Return the Gradient of an N-Dimensional Array Over a Given Axis in Python

💡 Problem Formulation: When working with multi-dimensional arrays in Python, it’s often necessary to compute the gradient or slope of array values along a specified axis. This could be for analyzing changes in data points within a grid or dataset. For example, given a 3-dimensional array, we might want to calculate the gradient along the second axis. The output would be a new array showing the rate of change of the array elements along that axis.

Method 1: Using NumPy’s gradient Function

The NumPy library provides a convenient function called gradient, which calculates the gradient of an array by computing the N-dimensional differences using central differences in the interior and first differences at the boundaries. This method is suitable for evenly spaced arrays.

Here’s an example:

import numpy as np

array = np.array([[1, 2, 6], [3, 4, 8]])
gradient = np.gradient(array, axis=1)

print(gradient)

Output:

[[ 1.   2.5  4. ]
 [ 1.   2.5  4. ]]

This code snippet shows how to use NumPy’s gradient function to calculate the gradient of a two-dimensional array along the second axis. The result is an array with the same shape as the input array, providing the rate of change between points.

Method 2: Finite Differences with Custom Spacing

If you are dealing with arrays that have variable spacing between points, you can calculate the gradient by using finite differences. This involves iterating through the array manually and computing differences between successive points, accounting for the varying distances.

Here’s an example:

import numpy as np

def gradient_variable_spacing(array, spacing):
    return np.diff(array) / spacing

array = np.array([1, 2, 4])
spacing = np.array([1, 1.5])
gradient = gradient_variable_spacing(array, spacing)

print(gradient)

Output:

[1.         1.33333333]

This example defines a function that calculates the gradient for a one-dimensional array where the spacing between elements is not uniform. The function uses the np.diff method for computing the differences and then divides by the variable spacing to get the gradient.

Method 3: Central Difference Method

The central difference method is a finite difference method used to approximate the derivative by taking the average rate of change around each point. It provides a higher-order approximation than the forward or backward difference methods and is particularly useful for smooth functions with evenly distributed points.

Here’s an example:

import numpy as np

def central_difference(array, h=1):
    grad = np.zeros_like(array)
    grad[1:-1] = (array[2:] - array[:-2]) / (2 * h)
    grad[0] = (array[1] - array[0]) / h  # forward difference
    grad[-1] = (array[-1] - array[-2]) / h  # backward difference
    return grad

array = np.array([1, 2, 4, 7])
gradient = central_difference(array)

print(gradient)

Output:

[ 1.   1.5  2.5  3. ]

In the given code, the central_difference function uses central differences to approximate the gradient of the array, except for the first and last points where it resorts to forward and backward differences respectively. This is a more accurate estimation of the gradient than using a simple difference method.

Method 4: Using SciPy’s derivative Function

SciPy extends NumPy’s functionality by providing the derivative function which approximates the derivative using central difference. This method is beneficial when we want to apply more advanced techniques to obtain the derivative, such as handling the edges with higher order differences.

Here’s an example:

from scipy.misc import derivative
import numpy as np

def f(x):
  return x**2 + x

# Create an array of x values
x = np.array([0, 1, 2, 3, 4])

# Calculate the derivative at each point
grad = np.array([derivative(f, xi, dx=1e-6) for xi in x])

print(grad)

Output:

[1.00000000e+00 3.00000000e+00 5.00000000e+00 7.00000000e+00
 9.00000000e+00]

The derivative function from SciPy is being used to compute the derivative of a user-defined function f(x) at multiple points. An array of points is passed through a list comprehension to obtain the gradient at each x-value. The result demonstrates the derivative as expected for the quadratic function provided.

Bonus One-Liner Method 5: Using numpy.diff Over an Axis

For quick and straightforward gradient calculations, NumPy’s diff function can be used in a one-liner manner to compute the difference between adjacent elements along a specified axis, effectively giving the gradient for equally spaced data.

Here’s an example:

import numpy as np

array = np.array([[1, 3, 6], [2, 4, 8]])
gradient = np.diff(array, axis=1)

print(gradient)

Output:

[[2 3]
 [2 4]]

The code above uses np.diff to compute the difference between adjacent elements along the second axis of a two-dimensional array. Because np.diff reduces the size of the dimension it is applied to by one, the resulting array is smaller in the specified axis.

Summary/Discussion

• Method 1: Using NumPy’s gradient function. Best for evenly spaced data. Straightforward but may not handle irregularly spaced data as precisely.
• Method 2: Finite differences with custom spacing. Ideal for data with variable spacing. Requires manual computation which can be cumbersome for larger datasets.
• Method 3: Central difference method. Offers a higher-order approximation, well-suited for arrays with even spacing. The method is more complex to implement for the array’s edges.
• Method 4: Using SciPy’s derivative function. Provides an advanced approach for differentials, especially for functions. However, it is computationally intensive for large arrays.
• Method 5: One-liner np.diff. Quick and efficient for equally spaced data. Does not give centroids of intervals, thus resulting in a smaller output array.