Lambdify¶
This module provides convenient functions to transform sympy expressions to lambda functions which can be used to calculate numerical values very fast.
-
sympy.utilities.lambdify.
implemented_function
(symfunc, implementation)[source]¶ Add numerical
implementation
to functionsymfunc
.symfunc
can be anUndefinedFunction
instance, or a name string. In the latter case we create anUndefinedFunction
instance with that name.Be aware that this is a quick workaround, not a general method to create special symbolic functions. If you want to create a symbolic function to be used by all the machinery of SymPy you should subclass the
Function
class.- Parameters
symfunc :
str
orUndefinedFunction
instanceIf
str
, then create newUndefinedFunction
with this as name. Ifsymfunc
is an Undefined function, create a new function with the same name and the implemented function attached.implementation : callable
numerical implementation to be called by
evalf()
orlambdify
- Returns
afunc : sympy.FunctionClass instance
function with attached implementation
Examples
>>> from sympy.abc import x >>> from sympy.utilities.lambdify import lambdify, implemented_function >>> from sympy import Function >>> f = implemented_function('f', lambda x: x+1) >>> lam_f = lambdify(x, f(x)) >>> lam_f(4) 5
-
sympy.utilities.lambdify.
lambdastr
(args, expr, printer=None, dummify=None)[source]¶ Returns a string that can be evaluated to a lambda function.
Examples
>>> from sympy.abc import x, y, z >>> from sympy.utilities.lambdify import lambdastr >>> lambdastr(x, x**2) 'lambda x: (x**2)' >>> lambdastr((x,y,z), [z,y,x]) 'lambda x,y,z: ([z, y, x])'
Although tuples may not appear as arguments to lambda in Python 3, lambdastr will create a lambda function that will unpack the original arguments so that nested arguments can be handled:
>>> lambdastr((x, (y, z)), x + y) 'lambda _0,_1: (lambda x,y,z: (x + y))(_0,_1[0],_1[1])'
-
sympy.utilities.lambdify.
lambdify
(args, expr, modules=None, printer=None, use_imps=True, dummify=False)[source]¶ Translates a SymPy expression into an equivalent numeric function
For example, to convert the SymPy expression
sin(x) + cos(x)
to an equivalent NumPy function that numerically evaluates it:>>> from sympy import sin, cos, symbols, lambdify >>> import numpy as np >>> x = symbols('x') >>> expr = sin(x) + cos(x) >>> expr sin(x) + cos(x) >>> f = lambdify(x, expr, 'numpy') >>> a = np.array([1, 2]) >>> f(a) [1.38177329 0.49315059]
The primary purpose of this function is to provide a bridge from SymPy expressions to numerical libraries such as NumPy, SciPy, NumExpr, mpmath, and tensorflow. In general, SymPy functions do not work with objects from other libraries, such as NumPy arrays, and functions from numeric libraries like NumPy or mpmath do not work on SymPy expressions.
lambdify
bridges the two by converting a SymPy expression to an equivalent numeric function.The basic workflow with
lambdify
is to first create a SymPy expression representing whatever mathematical function you wish to evaluate. This should be done using only SymPy functions and expressions. Then, uselambdify
to convert this to an equivalent function for numerical evaluation. For instance, above we createdexpr
using the SymPy symbolx
and SymPy functionssin
andcos
, then converted it to an equivalent NumPy functionf
, and called it on a NumPy arraya
.Warning
This function uses
exec
, and thus shouldn’t be used on unsanitized input.Arguments
The first argument of
lambdify
is a variable or list of variables in the expression. Variable lists may be nested. Variables can be Symbols, undefined functions, or matrix symbols. The order and nesting of the variables corresponds to the order and nesting of the parameters passed to the lambdified function. For instance,>>> from sympy.abc import x, y, z >>> f = lambdify([x, (y, z)], x + y + z) >>> f(1, (2, 3)) 6
The second argument of
lambdify
is the expression, list of expressions, or matrix to be evaluated. Lists may be nested. If the expression is a list, the output will also be a list.>>> f = lambdify(x, [x, [x + 1, x + 2]]) >>> f(1) [1, [2, 3]]
If it is a matrix, an array will be returned (for the NumPy module).
>>> from sympy import Matrix >>> f = lambdify(x, Matrix([x, x + 1])) >>> f(1) [[1] [2]]
Note that the argument order here, variables then expression, is used to emulate the Python
lambda
keyword.lambdify(x, expr)
works (roughly) likelambda x: expr
(see How It Works below).The third argument,
modules
is optional. If not specified,modules
defaults to["scipy", "numpy"]
if SciPy is installed,["numpy"]
if only NumPy is installed, and["math", "mpmath", "sympy"]
if neither is installed. That is, SymPy functions are replaced as far as possible by eitherscipy
ornumpy
functions if available, and Python’s standard librarymath
, ormpmath
functions otherwise.modules
can be one of the following typesthe strings
"math"
,"mpmath"
,"numpy"
,"numexpr"
,"scipy"
,"sympy"
, or"tensorflow"
. This uses the corresponding printer and namespace mapping for that module.a module (e.g.,
math
). This uses the global namespace of the module. If the module is one of the above known modules, it will also use the corresponding printer and namespace mapping (i.e.,modules=numpy
is equivalent tomodules="numpy"
).a dictionary that maps names of SymPy functions to arbitrary functions (e.g.,
{'sin': custom_sin}
).a list that contains a mix of the arguments above, with higher priority given to entries appearing first (e.g., to use the NumPy module but override the
sin
function with a custom version, you can use[{'sin': custom_sin}, 'numpy']
).
The
dummify
keyword argument controls whether or not the variables in the provided expression that are not valid Python identifiers are substituted with dummy symbols. This allows for undefined functions likeFunction('f')(t)
to be supplied as arguments. By default, the variables are only dummified if they are not valid Python identifiers. Setdummify=True
to replace all arguments with dummy symbols (ifargs
is not a string) - for example, to ensure that the arguments do not redefine any built-in names.How It Works
When using this function, it helps a great deal to have an idea of what it is doing. At its core, lambdify is nothing more than a namespace translation, on top of a special printer that makes some corner cases work properly.
To understand lambdify, first we must properly understand how Python namespaces work. Say we had two files. One called
sin_cos_sympy.py
, with# sin_cos_sympy.py from sympy import sin, cos def sin_cos(x): return sin(x) + cos(x)
and one called
sin_cos_numpy.py
with# sin_cos_numpy.py from numpy import sin, cos def sin_cos(x): return sin(x) + cos(x)
The two files define an identical function
sin_cos
. However, in the first file,sin
andcos
are defined as the SymPysin
andcos
. In the second, they are defined as the NumPy versions.If we were to import the first file and use the
sin_cos
function, we would get something like>>> from sin_cos_sympy import sin_cos # doctest: +SKIP >>> sin_cos(1) # doctest: +SKIP cos(1) + sin(1)
On the other hand, if we imported
sin_cos
from the second file, we would get>>> from sin_cos_numpy import sin_cos # doctest: +SKIP >>> sin_cos(1) # doctest: +SKIP 1.38177329068
In the first case we got a symbolic output, because it used the symbolic
sin
andcos
functions from SymPy. In the second, we got a numeric result, becausesin_cos
used the numericsin
andcos
functions from NumPy. But notice that the versions ofsin
andcos
that were used was not inherent to thesin_cos
function definition. Bothsin_cos
definitions are exactly the same. Rather, it was based on the names defined at the module where thesin_cos
function was defined.The key point here is that when function in Python references a name that is not defined in the function, that name is looked up in the “global” namespace of the module where that function is defined.
Now, in Python, we can emulate this behavior without actually writing a file to disk using the
exec
function.exec
takes a string containing a block of Python code, and a dictionary that should contain the global variables of the module. It then executes the code “in” that dictionary, as if it were the module globals. The following is equivalent to thesin_cos
defined insin_cos_sympy.py
:>>> import sympy >>> module_dictionary = {'sin': sympy.sin, 'cos': sympy.cos} >>> exec(''' ... def sin_cos(x): ... return sin(x) + cos(x) ... ''', module_dictionary) >>> sin_cos = module_dictionary['sin_cos'] >>> sin_cos(1) cos(1) + sin(1)
and similarly with
sin_cos_numpy
:>>> import numpy >>> module_dictionary = {'sin': numpy.sin, 'cos': numpy.cos} >>> exec(''' ... def sin_cos(x): ... return sin(x) + cos(x) ... ''', module_dictionary) >>> sin_cos = module_dictionary['sin_cos'] >>> sin_cos(1) 1.38177329068
So now we can get an idea of how
lambdify
works. The name “lambdify” comes from the fact that we can think of something likelambdify(x, sin(x) + cos(x), 'numpy')
aslambda x: sin(x) + cos(x)
, wheresin
andcos
come from thenumpy
namespace. This is also why the symbols argument is first inlambdify
, as opposed to most SymPy functions where it comes after the expression: to better mimic thelambda
keyword.lambdify
takes the input expression (likesin(x) + cos(x)
) andConverts it to a string
Creates a module globals dictionary based on the modules that are passed in (by default, it uses the NumPy module)
Creates the string
"def func({vars}): return {expr}"
, where{vars}
is the list of variables separated by commas, and{expr}
is the string created in step 1., thenexec``s that string with the module globals namespace and returns ``func
.
In fact, functions returned by
lambdify
support inspection. So you can see exactly how they are defined by usinginspect.getsource
, or??
if you are using IPython or the Jupyter notebook.>>> f = lambdify(x, sin(x) + cos(x)) >>> import inspect >>> print(inspect.getsource(f)) def _lambdifygenerated(x): return (sin(x) + cos(x))
This shows us the source code of the function, but not the namespace it was defined in. We can inspect that by looking at the
__globals__
attribute off
:>>> f.__globals__['sin'] <ufunc 'sin'> >>> f.__globals__['cos'] <ufunc 'cos'> >>> f.__globals__['sin'] is numpy.sin True
This shows us that
sin
andcos
in the namespace off
will benumpy.sin
andnumpy.cos
.Note that there are some convenience layers in each of these steps, but at the core, this is how
lambdify
works. Step 1 is done using theLambdaPrinter
printers defined in the printing module (seesympy.printing.lambdarepr
). This allows different SymPy expressions to define how they should be converted to a string for different modules. You can change which printerlambdify
uses by passing a custom printer in to theprinter
argument.Step 2 is augmented by certain translations. There are default translations for each module, but you can provide your own by passing a list to the
modules
argument. For instance,>>> def mysin(x): ... print('taking the sin of', x) ... return numpy.sin(x) ... >>> f = lambdify(x, sin(x), [{'sin': mysin}, 'numpy']) >>> f(1) taking the sin of 1 0.8414709848078965
The globals dictionary is generated from the list by merging the dictionary
{'sin': mysin}
and the module dictionary for NumPy. The merging is done so that earlier items take precedence, which is whymysin
is used above instead ofnumpy.sin
.If you want to modify the way
lambdify
works for a given function, it is usually easiest to do so by modifying the globals dictionary as such. In more complicated cases, it may be necessary to create and pass in a custom printer.Finally, step 3 is augmented with certain convenience operations, such as the addition of a docstring.
Understanding how
lambdify
works can make it easier to avoid certain gotchas when using it. For instance, a common mistake is to create a lambdified function for one module (say, NumPy), and pass it objects from another (say, a SymPy expression).For instance, say we create
>>> from sympy.abc import x >>> f = lambdify(x, x + 1, 'numpy')
Now if we pass in a NumPy array, we get that array plus 1
>>> import numpy >>> a = numpy.array([1, 2]) >>> f(a) [2 3]
But what happens if you make the mistake of passing in a SymPy expression instead of a NumPy array:
>>> f(x + 1) x + 2
This worked, but it was only by accident. Now take a different lambdified function:
>>> from sympy import sin >>> g = lambdify(x, x + sin(x), 'numpy')
This works as expected on NumPy arrays:
>>> g(a) [1.84147098 2.90929743]
But if we try to pass in a SymPy expression, it fails
>>> g(x + 1) Traceback (most recent call last): ... AttributeError: 'Add' object has no attribute 'sin'
Now, let’s look at what happened. The reason this fails is that
g
callsnumpy.sin
on the input expression, andnumpy.sin
does not know how to operate on a SymPy object. As a general rule, NumPy functions do not know how to operate on SymPy expressions, and SymPy functions do not know how to operate on NumPy arrays. This is why lambdify exists: to provide a bridge between SymPy and NumPy.However, why is it that
f
did work? That’s becausef
doesn’t call any functions, it only adds 1. So the resulting function that is created,def _lambdifygenerated(x): return x + 1
does not depend on the globals namespace it is defined in. Thus it works, but only by accident. A future version oflambdify
may remove this behavior.Be aware that certain implementation details described here may change in future versions of SymPy. The API of passing in custom modules and printers will not change, but the details of how a lambda function is created may change. However, the basic idea will remain the same, and understanding it will be helpful to understanding the behavior of lambdify.
In general: you should create lambdified functions for one module (say, NumPy), and only pass it input types that are compatible with that module (say, NumPy arrays). Remember that by default, if the
module
argument is not provided,lambdify
creates functions using the NumPy and SciPy namespaces.Examples
>>> from sympy.utilities.lambdify import implemented_function >>> from sympy import sqrt, sin, Matrix >>> from sympy import Function >>> from sympy.abc import w, x, y, z
>>> f = lambdify(x, x**2) >>> f(2) 4 >>> f = lambdify((x, y, z), [z, y, x]) >>> f(1,2,3) [3, 2, 1] >>> f = lambdify(x, sqrt(x)) >>> f(4) 2.0 >>> f = lambdify((x, y), sin(x*y)**2) >>> f(0, 5) 0.0 >>> row = lambdify((x, y), Matrix((x, x + y)).T, modules='sympy') >>> row(1, 2) Matrix([[1, 3]])
lambdify
can be used to translate SymPy expressions into mpmath functions. This may be preferable to usingevalf
(which uses mpmath on the backend) in some cases.>>> import mpmath >>> f = lambdify(x, sin(x), 'mpmath') >>> f(1) 0.8414709848078965
Tuple arguments are handled and the lambdified function should be called with the same type of arguments as were used to create the function:
>>> f = lambdify((x, (y, z)), x + y) >>> f(1, (2, 4)) 3
The
flatten
function can be used to always work with flattened arguments:>>> from sympy.utilities.iterables import flatten >>> args = w, (x, (y, z)) >>> vals = 1, (2, (3, 4)) >>> f = lambdify(flatten(args), w + x + y + z) >>> f(*flatten(vals)) 10
Functions present in
expr
can also carry their own numerical implementations, in a callable attached to the_imp_
attribute. This can be used with undefined functions using theimplemented_function
factory:>>> f = implemented_function(Function('f'), lambda x: x+1) >>> func = lambdify(x, f(x)) >>> func(4) 5
lambdify
always prefers_imp_
implementations to implementations in other namespaces, unless theuse_imps
input parameter is False.Usage with Tensorflow:
>>> import tensorflow as tf >>> from sympy import Max, sin >>> f = Max(x, sin(x)) >>> func = lambdify(x, f, 'tensorflow') >>> result = func(tf.constant(1.0)) >>> print(result) # a tf.Tensor representing the result of the calculation Tensor("Maximum:0", shape=(), dtype=float32) >>> sess = tf.Session() >>> sess.run(result) # compute result 1.0 >>> var = tf.Variable(1.0) >>> sess.run(tf.global_variables_initializer()) >>> sess.run(func(var)) # also works for tf.Variable and tf.Placeholder 1.0 >>> tensor = tf.constant([[1.0, 2.0], [3.0, 4.0]]) # works with any shape tensor >>> sess.run(func(tensor)) [[1. 2.] [3. 4.]]
Notes
For functions involving large array calculations, numexpr can provide a significant speedup over numpy. Please note that the available functions for numexpr are more limited than numpy but can be expanded with
implemented_function
and user defined subclasses of Function. If specified, numexpr may be the only option in modules. The official list of numexpr functions can be found at: https://numexpr.readthedocs.io/en/latest/user_guide.html#supported-functionsIn previous versions of SymPy,
lambdify
replacedMatrix
withnumpy.matrix
by default. As of SymPy 1.0numpy.array
is the default. To get the old default behavior you must pass in[{'ImmutableDenseMatrix': numpy.matrix}, 'numpy']
to themodules
kwarg.>>> from sympy import lambdify, Matrix >>> from sympy.abc import x, y >>> import numpy >>> array2mat = [{'ImmutableDenseMatrix': numpy.matrix}, 'numpy'] >>> f = lambdify((x, y), Matrix([x, y]), modules=array2mat) >>> f(1, 2) [[1] [2]]
In the above examples, the generated functions can accept scalar values or numpy arrays as arguments. However, in some cases the generated function relies on the input being a numpy array:
>>> from sympy import Piecewise >>> from sympy.utilities.pytest import ignore_warnings >>> f = lambdify(x, Piecewise((x, x <= 1), (1/x, x > 1)), "numpy")
>>> with ignore_warnings(RuntimeWarning): ... f(numpy.array([-1, 0, 1, 2])) [-1. 0. 1. 0.5]
>>> f(0) Traceback (most recent call last): ... ZeroDivisionError: division by zero
In such cases, the input should be wrapped in a numpy array:
>>> with ignore_warnings(RuntimeWarning): ... float(f(numpy.array([0]))) 0.0
Or if numpy functionality is not required another module can be used:
>>> f = lambdify(x, Piecewise((x, x <= 1), (1/x, x > 1)), "math") >>> f(0) 0