[Numeric] why is Float32 incorrect for ufuncs?

[Duncan Smith]

"Curzio Basso" <curzio.basso at unibas.ch> wrote in message
news:404757b9$1 at maser.urz.unibas.ch...
> Hello everyone,
>
> I am a beginner with Numerical Python, and there is a thing I do not
> understand in the behaviour of the ufuncs. Maybe someone can enlighten me.
>
> Why is the following not working?
>
>  >>> import Numeric
>  >>> a=Numeric.ones((2,2),Numeric.Float32)
>  >>> a
> array([[ 1.,  1.],
>         [ 1.,  1.]],'f')
>  >>> a/=2
> Traceback (most recent call last):
>    File "<stdin>", line 1, in ?
> TypeError: return array has incorrect type
>
> If I use Numeric.Float64 as typecode everything works fine, but I do not
> understand why is this needed.
>
> thanks for your help. curzio.
>

What *I think* is happening is that Numeric is converting the integer to a
rank-0 array of type Int64 before division.  The consequence is an upcast to
Float64 for the return array.  Look for 'Coercion and Casting' in the
Numeric documentation.  Cheers.

Duncan