How to calculate the absolute value of each element of an array or matrix in python with numpy ?

Examples of how to calculate the absolute value of each element of an array or matrix in python with numpy:

Calculate the absolute value for a 1D matrix

Let's first create a 1d matrix with some negative values:

import numpy as np

A = np.linspace(-5.0, 4.0, num=10)

returns

array([-5., -4., -3., -2., -1.,  0.,  1.,  2.,  3.,  4.])

To calculate the absolute value of each element of A, a solution is to use numpy.absolute

B = np.absolute(A)

returns then

array([5., 4., 3., 2., 1., 0., 1., 2., 3., 4.])

Note: create some visualization with matplotlib:

Matrix A:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

plt.plot(np.arange(A.shape[0]),A)

plt.title("How to calculate the absolute value \n of each element of an array \n or matrix in python with numpy")

plt.grid()

plt.savefig("absolute_01.png", bbox_inches='tight', dpi=100)

plt.show()

gives

Matrix B:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

plt.plot(np.arange(B.shape[0]),B)

plt.title("How to calculate the absolute value \n of each element of an array \n or matrix in python with numpy")

plt.savefig("absolute_02.png", bbox_inches='tight', dpi=100)

plt.grid()

plt.show()

gives

Another example with a 2d matrix

Let's create a 2d with some negative values:

A = np.random.randint(-10,10,size=(4,4))

returns for example

array([[-6, -7, -7,  2],
             [-7,  1, -6, -8],
             [-3,  5,  9, -4],
             [ 0,  0, -6, -4]])

Then to calculate the absolute value of each element of A:

B = np.absolute(A)

gives

array([[6, 7, 7, 2],
             [7, 1, 6, 8],
             [3, 5, 9, 4],
             [0, 0, 6, 4]])

Examples of how to visualize the results with matplotlib:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

plt.imshow(A)

plt.title("How to calculate the absolute value \n of each element of an array \n or matrix in python with numpy")

plt.grid()

plt.colorbar()

plt.savefig("absolute_03.png", bbox_inches='tight', dpi=100)

plt.show()

gives

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

plt.imshow(B)

plt.title("How to calculate the absolute value \n of each element of an array \n or matrix in python with numpy")

plt.grid()

plt.colorbar()

plt.savefig("absolute_04.png", bbox_inches='tight', dpi=100)

plt.show()

gives

References

• numpy.absolute