I've got an n-by-k sized matrix, containing k numbers per row. I want to use these k numbers as indexes into a k-dimensional matrix. Is there any compact way of doing so in MATLAB or must I use a for loop?
This is what I want to do (in MATLAB pseudo code), but in a more MATLAB-ish way:
for row=1:1:n
finalTable(row) = kDimensionalMatrix(indexmatrix(row, 1),...
indexmatrix(row, 2),...,indexmatrix(row, k))
end
If you want to avoid having to use a for loop, this is probably the cleanest way to do it:
indexCell = num2cell(indexmatrix, 1);
linearIndexMatrix = sub2ind(size(kDimensionalMatrix), indexCell{:});
finalTable = kDimensionalMatrix(linearIndexMatrix);
The first line puts each column of indexmatrix into separate cells of a cell array using num2cell. This allows us to pass all k columns as a comma-separated list into sub2ind, a function that converts subscripted indices (row, column, etc.) into linear indices (each matrix element is numbered from 1 to N, N being the total number of elements in the matrix). The last line uses these linear indices to replace your for loop. A good discussion about matrix indexing (subscript, linear, and logical) can be found here.
Some more food for thought...
The tendency to shy away from for loops in favor of vectorized solutions is something many MATLAB users (myself included) have become accustomed to. However, newer versions of MATLAB handle looping much more efficiently. As discussed in this answer to another SO question, using for loops can sometimes result in faster-running code than you would get with a vectorized solution.
I'm certainly NOT saying you shouldn't try to vectorize your code anymore, only that every problem is unique. Vectorizing will often be more efficient, but not always. For your problem, the execution speed of for loops versus vectorized code will probably depend on how big the values n and k are.
To treat the elements of the vector indexmatrix(row, :) as separate subscripts, you need the elements as a cell array. So, you could do something like this
subsCell = num2cell( indexmatrix( row, : ) );
finalTable( row ) = kDimensionalMatrix( subsCell{:} );
To expand subsCell as a comma-separated-list, unfortunately you do need the two separate lines. However, this code is independent of k.
Convert your sub-indices into linear indices in a hacky way
ksz = size(kDimensionalMatrix);
cksz = cumprod([ 1 ksz(1:end-1)] );
lidx = ( indexmatrix - 1 ) * cksz' + 1; #'
% lindx is now (n)x1 linear indices into kDimensionalMatrix, one index per row of indexmatrix
% access all n values:
selectedValues = kDimensionalMatrix( lindx );
Cheers!
Related
I have a 5-by-200 matrix where the i:50:200, i=1:50 are related to each other, so for example the matrix columns 1,51,101,151 are related to each other, and columns 49,99,149,199 are also related to each other.
I want to use a for-loop to create another matrix that re-sorts the previous matrix based on this relationship.
My code is
values=zeros(5,200);
for j=1:50
for m=1:4:200
a=factor_mat(:,j:50:200)
values(:,m)=a
end
end
However, the code does not work.
Here's what's happening. Let's say we're on the first iteration of the outer loop, so j == 1. This effectively gives you:
j = 1;
for m=1:4:200
a=factor_mat(:,j:50:200)
values(:,m)=a;
end
So you're creating the same submatrix for a (j doesn't change) 50 times and storing it at different places in the values matrix. This isn't really what you want to do.
To create each 4-column submatrix once and store them in 50 different places, you need to use j to tell you which of the 50 you're currently processing:
for j=1:50
a=factor_mat(:,j:50:200);
m=j*4; %// This gives us the **end** of the current range
values(:,m-3:m)=a;
end
I've used a little trick here, because the indices of Matlab arrays start at 1 rather than 0. I've calculated the index of the last column we want to insert. For the first group, this is column 4. Since j == 1, j * 4 == 4. Then I subtract 3 to find the first column index.
That will fix the problem you have with your loops. But loops aren't very Matlab-ish. They used to be very slow; now they're adequate. But they're still not the cool way to do things.
To do this without loops, you can use reshape and permute:
a=reshape(factor_mat,[],50,4);
b=permute(a,[1,3,2]);
values=reshape(b,[],200);
I have a matrix with a large number of rows. I have another matrix that I will loop through one row at a time. For each row in the second matrix, I need to look for similar rows in the first matrix. Once all the similar rows are found, I need to know the row numbers of the similar rows. These rows will almost never be exact, so ismember does not work.
Also, the solution would preferably (not necessarily, however) give some way to set a level of similarity that would trigger the code to say it is similar and give me the row number.
Is there any way to do this? I've looked around, and I can't find anything.
You could use cosine distance, which finds the angle between two vectors. Similar vectors (in your case, a row and your comparison vector) have a value close to 1 and dissimilar vectors have a value close to 0.
function d = cosSimilarity(u, v)
d = dot(u,v)/(norm(u)*norm(v));
end
To apply this function to each to all pairs of rows in the matrices M and V you could use nested for loops. Hardly the most elegant, but it will work:
numRowsM = size(M, 1)
numRowsV = size(V, 1)
similarThresh = .9
for m = 1:numRowsM
for v = 1:numRowsV
similarity = cosSimilarity(V(v,:), M(m, :))
% Notify about similar rows
if similarity > similarThresh
disp([num2str(m) ' is similar to a row in V'])
end
end
end
Instead of nested for loops, there are definitely other ways. You could start by looking at the solution from this question, which will help you avoid the loop by converting the rows of the matrix into cells of a cell array and then applying the function with cellfun.
I've just started using for loops in matlab in programming class and the basic stuff is doing me fine, However I've been asked to "Use loops to create a 3 x 5 matrix in which the value of each element is its row number to the power of its column number divided by the sum of its row number and column number for example the value of element (2,3) is (2^3 / 2+3) = 1.6
So what sort of looping do I need to use to enable me to start new lines to form a matrix?
Since you need to know the row and column numbers (and only because you have to use loops), for-loops are a natural choice. This is because a for-loop will automatically keep track of your row and column number for you if you set it up right. More specifically, you want a nested for loop, i.e. one for loop within another. The outer loop might loop through the rows and the inner loop through the columns for example.
As for starting new lines in a matrix, this is extremely bad practice to do in a loop. You should rather pre-allocate your matrix. This will have a major performance impact on your code. Pre-allocation is most commonly done using the zeros function.
e.g.
num_rows = 3;
num_cols = 5;
M = zeros(num_rows,num_cols); %// Preallocation of memory so you don't grow your matrix in your loop
for row = 1:num_rows
for col = 1:num_cols
M(row,col) = (row^col)/(row+col);
end
end
But the most efficient way to do it is probably not to use loops at all but do it in one shot using ndgrid:
[R, C] = ndgrid(1:num_rows, 1:num_cols);
M = (R.^C)./(R+C);
The command bsxfun is very helpful for such problems. It will do all the looping and preallocation for you.
eg:
bsxfun(#(x,y) x.^y./(x+y), (1:3)', 1:5)
I need to convert this to Matlab code, and am struggling without the "table" function.
Table[{i,1000,ability,savingsrate,0,RandomInteger[{15,30}],1,0},{i,nrhhs}];
So basically, these values are all just numbers, and I think I need to use a function handle, or maybe a for loop. I'm no expert, so I really need some help?
I'm not an expert in Mathematics (just used it long time ago). According to this documentation for Table function, you are using this form:
Table[expr, {i, imax}]
generates a list of the values of expr when i runs from 1 to imax.
It looks like your statement will produce list duplicating the list in first argument increasing i from 1 to nrhhs and using different random number.
In MATLAB the output can be equivalent to a matrix or a cell array.
To create a matrix with rows as your lists you can do:
result = [ (1:nrhhs)', repmat([1000,ability,savingsrate,0],nrhhs,1), ...
randi([15 30],nrhhs,1), repmat([1,0],nrhhs,1) ];
You can convert the above matrix to a cell array:
resultcell = cell2mat(result, ones(nrhhs,1));
The "Table" example you gave creates a list of nrhhs sub-lists, each of which contains 8 numbers (i, 1000, ability, savingsrate, 0, a random integer between 15 and 30 inclusive, 1, and 0). This is essentially (though not exactly) the same as an nrhhs x 8 matrix.
Assuming you do just want a matrix out, though, an analogous for loop in Matlab would be:
result = zeros(nrhhs,8); % preallocate memory for the result
for i = 1:nrhhs
result(i,:) = [i 1000 ability savingsrate 0 randi([15 30]) 1 0];
end
This method is likely slower than yuk's answer (which makes much more efficient use of vectors to avoid the for loop), but might be a little easier to pick apart depending on how familiar you are with Matlab.
I want to sum up several vectors of different size in an array. Each time one of the vectors drops out of my program, I want to append it to my array. Like this:
array = [array, vector];
In the end I want to let this array be the output of a function. But it gives me wrong results. Is this possible with MATLAB?
Thanks and kind regards,
Damian
Okay, given that we're dealing with column vectors of different size, you can't put them all in a numerical array, since a numerical array has to be rectangular. If you really wanted to put them in the numerical array, then the column length of the array will need to be the length of the longest vector, and you'll have to pad out the shorter vectors with NaNs.
Given this, a better solution would be, as chaohuang hinted at in the comments, to use a cell array, and store one vector in each cell. The problem is that you don't know beforehand how many vectors there will be. The usual approach that I'm aware of for this problem is as follows (but if someone has a better idea, I'm keen to learn!):
UpperBound = SomeLargeNumber;
Array = cell(1, UpperBound);
Counter = 0;
while SomeCondition
Counter = Counter + 1;
if Counter > UpperBound
error('You did not choose a large enough upper bound!');
end
%#Create your vector here
Array{1, Counter} = YourVectorHere;
end
Array = Array(1, 1:Counter);
In other words, choose some upper bound beforehand that you are sure you won't go above in the loop, and then cut your cell array down to size once the loop is finished. Also, I've put in an error trap in case you're choice of upper bound turns out to be too small!
Oh, by the way, I just noted in your question the words "sum up several vectors". Was this a figure of speech or did you actually want to perform a sum operation somewhere?