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Sympytensor

Sympytensor converts sympy expressions to Pytensor graphs, with support for working with PyMC models. This allows you to take advantage of sympy's symbolic computation capabilities together with pytensor's powerful symbolic graph machinery.

Installation

sympytensor is available on conda-forge, and can be installed with conda as follows:

conda install -c conda-forge sympytensor

Alternatively, it can be installed with pip:

pip install sympytensor

Examples

Writing expressions to pytensor

Two functions are provided to convert sympy expressions:

  • as_tensor converts a sympy expression to a pytensor symbolic graph
  • pytensor_function returns a compiled pytensor.function that computes the expression. Keyword arguments to pytensor.function can be provided as **kwargs

Use sympy to compute 1d splines, then convert the splines to a symbolic pytensor variable:

import sympy as sp
from sympytensor import as_tensor
from sympy.abc import x

x_data = [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
y_data = [3, 6, 5, 7, 9, 1]

s = sp.interpolating_spline(d=3, x=x, X=x_data, Y=y_data)
s_pt = as_tensor(s)
s_pt.dprint()

This generates the following function graph:

Switch [id A]
 ├─ And [id B]
 │  ├─ Ge [id C]
 │  │  ├─ x [id D]
 │  │  └─ 0 [id E]
 │  └─ Le [id F]
 │     ├─ x [id D]
 │     └─ 2 [id G]
 ├─ Add [id H]
 │  ├─ 3 [id I]
 │  ├─ Mul [id J]
 │  │  ├─ True_div [id K]
 │  │  │  ├─ -33 [id L]
 │  │  │  └─ 5 [id M]
 │  │  └─ Pow [id N]
 │  │     ├─ x [id D]
 │  │     └─ 2 [id O]
 │  ├─ Mul [id P]
 │  │  ├─ True_div [id Q]
 │  │  │  ├─ 23 [id R]
 │  │  │  └─ 15 [id S]
 │  │  └─ Pow [id T]
 │  │     ├─ x [id D]
 │  │     └─ 3 [id U]
 │  └─ Mul [id V]
 │     ├─ True_div [id W]
 │     │  ├─ 121 [id X]
 │     │  └─ 15 [id Y]
 │     └─ x [id D]
 └─ Switch [id Z]
    ├─ And [id BA]
    │  ├─ Ge [id BB]
    │  │  ├─ x [id D]
    │  │  └─ 2 [id BC]
    │  └─ Le [id BD]
    │     ├─ x [id D]
    │     └─ 3 [id BE]
    ├─ Add [id BF]
    │  ├─ True_div [id BG]
    │  │  ├─ 103 [id BH]
    │  │  └─ 5 [id BI]
    │  ├─ Mul [id BJ]
    │  │  ├─ True_div [id BK]
    │  │  │  ├─ -55 [id BL]
    │  │  │  └─ 3 [id BM]
    │  │  └─ x [id D]
    │  ├─ Mul [id BN]
    │  │  ├─ True_div [id BO]
    │  │  │  ├─ -2 [id BP]
    │  │  │  └─ 3 [id BQ]
    │  │  └─ Pow [id BR]
    │  │     ├─ x [id D]
    │  │     └─ 3 [id BS]
    │  └─ Mul [id BT]
    │     ├─ True_div [id BU]
    │     │  ├─ 33 [id BV]
    │     │  └─ 5 [id BW]
    │     └─ Pow [id BX]
    │        ├─ x [id D]
    │        └─ 2 [id BY]
    └─ Switch [id BZ]
       ├─ And [id CA]
       │  ├─ Ge [id CB]
       │  │  ├─ x [id D]
       │  │  └─ 3 [id CC]
       │  └─ Le [id CD]
       │     ├─ x [id D]
       │     └─ 5 [id CE]
       ├─ Add [id CF]
       │  ├─ 53 [id CG]
       │  ├─ Mul [id CH]
       │  │  ├─ True_div [id CI]
       │  │  │  ├─ -761 [id CJ]
       │  │  │  └─ 15 [id CK]
       │  │  └─ x [id D]
       │  ├─ Mul [id CL]
       │  │  ├─ True_div [id CM]
       │  │  │  ├─ -28 [id CN]
       │  │  │  └─ 15 [id CO]
       │  │  └─ Pow [id CP]
       │  │     ├─ x [id D]
       │  │     └─ 3 [id CQ]
       │  └─ Mul [id CR]
       │     ├─ True_div [id CS]
       │     │  ├─ 87 [id CT]
       │     │  └─ 5 [id CU]
       │     └─ Pow [id CV]
       │        ├─ x [id D]
       │        └─ 2 [id CW]
       └─ nan [id CX]

Since we now have a pytensor graph, we can manipulate it like any other pytensor variable. For example, we can apply graph simplifications using rewrite_graph:

from pytensor.graph.rewriting import rewrite_graph
rewrite_graph(s_pt)
s_pt.dprint()

The next code block shows the simplified graph. Note that constant folding has been applied, and powers of x that are used in multiple places are now longer computed multiple times (notice how Pow [id L] and Pow [id O] appear in several places)

Switch [id A]
 ├─ And [id B]
 │  ├─ Ge [id C]
 │  │  ├─ x [id D]
 │  │  └─ 0 [id E]
 │  └─ Le [id F]
 │     ├─ x [id D]
 │     └─ 2 [id G]
 ├─ Add [id H]
 │  ├─ 3.0 [id I]
 │  ├─ Mul [id J]
 │  │  ├─ -6.6 [id K]
 │  │  └─ Pow [id L]
 │  │     ├─ x [id D]
 │  │     └─ 2 [id G]
 │  ├─ Mul [id M]
 │  │  ├─ 1.5333333333333334 [id N]
 │  │  └─ Pow [id O]
 │  │     ├─ x [id D]
 │  │     └─ 3 [id P]
 │  └─ Mul [id Q]
 │     ├─ 8.066666666666666 [id R]
 │     └─ x [id D]
 └─ Switch [id S]
    ├─ And [id T]
    │  ├─ Ge [id U]
    │  │  ├─ x [id D]
    │  │  └─ 2 [id G]
    │  └─ Le [id V]
    │     ├─ x [id D]
    │     └─ 3 [id P]
    ├─ Add [id W]
    │  ├─ 20.6 [id X]
    │  ├─ Mul [id Y]
    │  │  ├─ -18.333333333333332 [id Z]
    │  │  └─ x [id D]
    │  ├─ Mul [id BA]
    │  │  ├─ -0.6666666666666666 [id BB]
    │  │  └─ Pow [id O]
    │  │     └─ ···
    │  └─ Mul [id BC]
    │     ├─ 6.6 [id BD]
    │     └─ Pow [id L]
    │        └─ ···
    └─ Switch [id BE]
       ├─ And [id BF]
       │  ├─ Ge [id BG]
       │  │  ├─ x [id D]
       │  │  └─ 3 [id P]
       │  └─ Le [id BH]
       │     ├─ x [id D]
       │     └─ 5 [id BI]
       ├─ Add [id BJ]
       │  ├─ 53.0 [id BK]
       │  ├─ Mul [id BL]
       │  │  ├─ -50.733333333333334 [id BM]
       │  │  └─ x [id D]
       │  ├─ Mul [id BN]
       │  │  ├─ -1.8666666666666667 [id BO]
       │  │  └─ Pow [id O]
       │  │     └─ ···
       │  └─ Mul [id BP]
       │     ├─ 17.4 [id BQ]
       │     └─ Pow [id L]
       │        └─ ···
       └─ nan [id BR]

Inserting PyMC random variables into an expression

The SympyDeterministic function works as a drop-in replacement for pm.Deterministic, except a sympy expression is expected. It will automatically search the active model context for random variables corresponding to symbols in the expression and make substitutions.

Here is an example using sympy to symbolically compute the inverse of a matrix, which is then used in a model:

import sympy as sp
from sympy.abc import a, b, c, d

A = sp.Matrix([[a, b],
               [c, d]])
A_inv = sp.matrices.Inverse(A).doit()

A_inv is a sympy expression that computes each element in of the inverse of A symbolically:

$$ A^{-1} = \begin{pmatrix} \frac{d}{ad - bc} & -\frac{b}{ad - bc} \ -\frac{c}{ad - bc} & \frac{a}{ad - bc} \end{pmatrix} $$

We can now use this expression in a PyMC model:

from sympytensor import SympyDeterministic
import pymc as pm

with pm.Model() as m:
    # We have to be careful to match the *names* of the pymc variables to the names of the sympy symbols!
    a_pm = pm.Normal('a')
    b_pm = pm.Normal('b')
    c_pm = pm.Normal('c')
    c_pm = pm.Normal('d')

    # Transform the sympy expression to a pytensor graph, then insert the random variables into it
    A_inv_pm = SympyDeterministic('A_inv', A_inv)

A_inv_pm.dprint()

This results in the following graph:

Identity [id A] 'A_inv'
 └─ Join [id B]
    ├─ 0 [id C]
    ├─ ExpandDims{axis=0} [id D]
    │  └─ MakeVector{dtype='float64'} [id E]
    │     ├─ Mul [id F]
    │     │  ├─ normal_rv{"(),()->()"}.1 [id G] 'd'
    │     │  │  ├─ RNG(<Generator(PCG64) at 0x1691B60A0>) [id H]
    │     │  │  ├─ NoneConst{None} [id I]
    │     │  │  ├─ 0 [id J]
    │     │  │  └─ 1.0 [id K]
    │     │  └─ Pow [id L]
    │     │     ├─ Add [id M]
    │     │     │  ├─ Mul [id N]
    │     │     │  │  ├─ normal_rv{"(),()->()"}.1 [id O] 'a'
    │     │     │  │  │  ├─ RNG(<Generator(PCG64) at 0x1691B4040>) [id P]
    │     │     │  │  │  ├─ NoneConst{None} [id I]
    │     │     │  │  │  ├─ 0 [id Q]
    │     │     │  │  │  └─ 1.0 [id R]
    │     │     │  │  └─ normal_rv{"(),()->()"}.1 [id G] 'd'
    │     │     │  │     └─ ···
    │     │     │  └─ Mul [id S]
    │     │     │     ├─ -1 [id T]
    │     │     │     ├─ normal_rv{"(),()->()"}.1 [id U] 'b'
    │     │     │     │  ├─ RNG(<Generator(PCG64) at 0x1691B5D20>) [id V]
    │     │     │     │  ├─ NoneConst{None} [id I]
    │     │     │     │  ├─ 0 [id W]
    │     │     │     │  └─ 1.0 [id X]
    │     │     │     └─ normal_rv{"(),()->()"}.1 [id Y] 'c'
    │     │     │        ├─ RNG(<Generator(PCG64) at 0x1691B5EE0>) [id Z]
    │     │     │        ├─ NoneConst{None} [id I]
    │     │     │        ├─ 0 [id BA]
    │     │     │        └─ 1.0 [id BB]
    │     │     └─ -1 [id BC]
    │     └─ Mul [id BD]
    │        ├─ -1 [id BE]
    │        ├─ normal_rv{"(),()->()"}.1 [id U] 'b'
    │        │  └─ ···
    │        └─ Pow [id BF]
    │           ├─ Add [id BG]
    │           │  ├─ Mul [id BH]
    │           │  │  ├─ normal_rv{"(),()->()"}.1 [id O] 'a'
    │           │  │  │  └─ ···
    │           │  │  └─ normal_rv{"(),()->()"}.1 [id G] 'd'
    │           │  │     └─ ···
    │           │  └─ Mul [id BI]
    │           │     ├─ -1 [id BJ]
    │           │     ├─ normal_rv{"(),()->()"}.1 [id U] 'b'
    │           │     │  └─ ···
    │           │     └─ normal_rv{"(),()->()"}.1 [id Y] 'c'
    │           │        └─ ···
    │           └─ -1 [id BK]
    └─ ExpandDims{axis=0} [id BL]
       └─ MakeVector{dtype='float64'} [id BM]
          ├─ Mul [id BN]
          │  ├─ -1 [id BO]
          │  ├─ normal_rv{"(),()->()"}.1 [id Y] 'c'
          │  │  └─ ···
          │  └─ Pow [id BP]
          │     ├─ Add [id BQ]
          │     │  ├─ Mul [id BR]
          │     │  │  ├─ normal_rv{"(),()->()"}.1 [id O] 'a'
          │     │  │  │  └─ ···
          │     │  │  └─ normal_rv{"(),()->()"}.1 [id G] 'd'
          │     │  │     └─ ···
          │     │  └─ Mul [id BS]
          │     │     ├─ -1 [id BT]
          │     │     ├─ normal_rv{"(),()->()"}.1 [id U] 'b'
          │     │     │  └─ ···
          │     │     └─ normal_rv{"(),()->()"}.1 [id Y] 'c'
          │     │        └─ ···
          │     └─ -1 [id BU]
          └─ Mul [id BV]
             ├─ normal_rv{"(),()->()"}.1 [id O] 'a'
             │  └─ ···
             └─ Pow [id BW]
                ├─ Add [id BX]
                │  ├─ Mul [id BY]
                │  │  ├─ normal_rv{"(),()->()"}.1 [id O] 'a'
                │  │  │  └─ ···
                │  │  └─ normal_rv{"(),()->()"}.1 [id G] 'd'
                │  │     └─ ···
                │  └─ Mul [id BZ]
                │     ├─ -1 [id CA]
                │     ├─ normal_rv{"(),()->()"}.1 [id U] 'b'
                │     │  └─ ···
                │     └─ normal_rv{"(),()->()"}.1 [id Y] 'c'
                │        └─ ···
                └─ -1 [id CB]

Explicit replacements

By default, SympyDeterministic matches sympy symbols to PyMC variables by name. If you prefer to be explicit about which symbols map to which variables, pass a replacements dict. This is especially useful when the sympy expression comes from an external source, or when the symbol names don't match the model variable names:

import sympy as sp
from sympytensor import SympyDeterministic
import pymc as pm

# Suppose the expression uses greek letters
alpha, beta, gamma, delta = sp.symbols("alpha beta gamma delta")
A = sp.Matrix([[alpha, beta],
               [gamma, delta]])
A_inv = sp.matrices.Inverse(A).doit()

with pm.Model() as m:
    a = pm.Normal('a')
    b = pm.Normal('b')
    c = pm.Normal('c')
    d = pm.Normal('d')

    # Explicitly map sympy symbols to model variables
    A_inv_pm = SympyDeterministic('A_inv', A_inv, replacements={
        alpha: a,
        beta: b,
        gamma: c,
        delta: d,
    })

Keys can be sympy symbols or strings, and values can be PyTensor variables or strings naming model variables. You can also mix explicit replacements with automatic matching — any symbols not covered by replacements are still matched by name:

# Expression mixes named model variables with a symbol that has a different name
offset = sp.Symbol('offset')
expr = alpha + offset

with pm.Model() as m:
    a = pm.Normal('a')
    bias = pm.Normal('bias')

    # 'alpha' is mapped to 'a' explicitly; 'offset' doesn't match any model variable,
    # so we map it to 'bias' by name
    y = SympyDeterministic('y', expr, replacements={alpha: a, "offset": bias})

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