dual_numbers

2D Dual numbers for python, can trivially use complex numbers as scalars.

What are dual numbers?

Python uses j for the imaginary unit, here we use d for the dual unit, in order to differentiate it from scientific notation.

d^2 = 0

exp(a*d)=1+a*d

Since complex numbers can make rotations be done as multiplication, dual numbers can make posible translation as multiplication. As the dual part squares to 0, they can also be used for automatic differentiation:

f(x+d) = f(x) + f'(x)d Note: in complex numbers, f(x+i)=f(x)+f'(x)i

More info in wikipedia.

How to use:

To declare a dual number:

a=dual(1,2)
a
>>> (1+2d)
b=3 .d + 1
b
>>> (1+3d)
c=dual(1) # same as complex(1)
c
>>> (1+0d)
c.real
>>> 1
c.dl
>>> 0
dual(1+1j,2).real
>>> (1+1j) # This is not a bug, but a feature.

To add them, make sure the dual number comes first, since we cannot modify python's integer and float methods for adding:

a=1 .d + 2
b=1
a+b
>>> (3+1d) # CORRECT!!
b+a
>>> Error: "+" not defined for int with dual

So make sure to declare all your numbers as dual if you dont want to deal with these.

Basic arithmetic operations +,-,*,/,exp,log work as intended if both operands are dual. See docs or code for the cases when numbers are promoted.

• a+b,a-b,a*b, etc
• a.exp() and a.log() return their respective values. See docs or code for extending to other algebras ex.: exp(self,f=mathmodule).

Requirements

Install these with pip install as usual:

• custom_literals (for easy dual declaration with .d)
• forbiddenfruit (dependency for the former)

TODO

• Test the library
• Make literals optional
• Add wheel
• Make docs
• Put more use cases
• Give more links