[Numpy-discussion] Strange behaviour with for loops + numpy arrays

[Stefan Reiterer]

Thanks that was the problem!

You never stop to learn =)

-------- Original-Nachricht --------
> Datum: Mon, 17 Jan 2011 18:22:17 +0100
> Von: Francesc Alted <faltet at pytables.org>
> An: Discussion of Numerical Python <numpy-discussion at scipy.org>
> Betreff: Re: [Numpy-discussion] Strange behaviour with for loops + numpy	arrays

> A Monday 17 January 2011 17:02:43 Stefan Reiterer escrigué:
> > Hi all!
> > 
> > I made some "performance" tests with numpy to compare numpy on one
> > cpu with mpi on 4 processesors, and something appears quite strange
> > to me:
> > 
> > I have the following code:
> > 
> > N = 2**10*4
> > K = 16000
> > 
> > x = numpy.random.randn(N).astype(numpy.float32)
> > x *= 10**10
> > print "x:", x
> > t1 = time.time()
> > 
> > #do something...
> > for k in xrange(K):
> >   x *= 0.99
> > 
> > print "altered x:", x
> > 
> > t = time.time() - t1
> > print "# loops:", K, "time needed:", t, " s "
> > 
> > # loops: 1000 time needed: 0.0134310722351  s
> > # loops: 2000 time needed: 0.028107881546  s
> > # loops: 4000 time needed: 0.0367569923401  s
> > # loops: 8000 time needed: 0.075756072998  s
> > # loops: 16000 time needed: 2.11396384239  s
> > 
> > So for K = 16000 it didn't need twice the amount of time as expected,
> > it took 20 x more time! After that jump it seem to "normalize"
> > # loops: 32000 time needed: 8.25508499146  s
> > # loops: 64000 time needed: 20.5365290642  s
> > 
> > First I suspected xrange was the culprit, but if I tried
> > k = 0
> > while k < K:
> >   x *= 0.99
> > 
> > it changed anything.
> > When I tried simply
> > a=0
> > for k in xrange(K):
> >   a = a+1
> > 
> > none of the effects above triggered, so I suspect that numpy has to
> > be involved. My Hardware is 2.3 GHz Intel Dual Core, 2 GB Ram and
> > Ubuntu 10.04. For my tests I tried it with Python 2.6, and Sage 4.6.
> > (which uses 2.6 too)
> > 
> > Also changing the size of arrays or changing the computer didn't
> > help.
> > 
> > Has anyone an Idea what had could happen?
> 
> You are generating denormalized numbers:
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denormal_number
> 
> Many processors cannot deal efficiently with these beasts in hardware.  
> You may want to convert these numbers to zero if you want more speed.
> 
> -- 
> Francesc Alted
> _______________________________________________
> NumPy-Discussion mailing list
> NumPy-Discussion at scipy.org
> http://mail.scipy.org/mailman/listinfo/numpy-discussion

-- 
GMX DSL Doppel-Flat ab 19,99 Euro/mtl.! Jetzt mit 
gratis Handy-Flat! http://portal.gmx.net/de/go/dsl