path: root/doc/C02_TutorialMatrixArithmetic.dox

namespace Eigen {

/** \page TutorialMatrixArithmetic Tutorial page 2 - %Matrix and vector arithmetic
    \ingroup Tutorial

\li \b Previous: \ref TutorialMatrixClass
\li \b Next: \ref TutorialArrayClass

This tutorial aims to provide an overview and some details on how to perform arithmetic
between matrices, vectors and scalars with Eigen.

\b Table \b of \b contents
  - \ref TutorialArithmeticIntroduction
  - \ref TutorialArithmeticMentionCommaInitializer
  - \ref TutorialArithmeticAddSub
  - \ref TutorialArithmeticScalarMulDiv
  - \ref TutorialArithmeticMentionXprTemplates
  - \ref TutorialArithmeticMatrixMul
  - \ref TutorialArithmeticDotAndCross
  - \ref TutorialArithmeticRedux
  - \ref TutorialArithmeticValidity

\section TutorialArithmeticIntroduction Introduction

Eigen offers matrix/vector arithmetic operations either through overloads of common C++ arithmetic operators such as +, -, *,
or through special methods such as dot(), cross(), etc.
For the Matrix class (matrices and vectors), operators are only overloaded to support
linear-algebraic operations. For example, \c matrix1 \c * \c matrix2 means matrix-matrix product,
and \c vector \c + \c scalar is just not allowed. If you want to perform all kinds of array operations,
not linear algebra, see \ref TutorialArrayClass "next page".

\section TutorialArithmeticMentionCommaInitializer A note about comma-initialization

In examples below, we'll be initializing matrices with a very convenient device known as the \em comma-initializer.
For now, it is enough to know this example:
\include Tutorial_commainit_01.cpp
Output: \verbinclude Tutorial_commainit_01.out
The comma initializer is discussed in \ref TutorialAdvancedInitialization "this page".

\section TutorialArithmeticAddSub Addition and substraction

The left hand side and right hand side must, of course, have the same numbers of rows and of columns. They must
also have the same \c Scalar type, as Eigen doesn't do automatic type promotion. The operators at hand here are:
\li binary operator + as in \c a+b
\li binary operator - as in \c a-b
\li unary operator - as in \c -a
\li compound operator += as in \c a+=b
\li compound operator -= as in \c a-=b

Example: \include tut_arithmetic_add_sub.cpp
Output: \verbinclude tut_arithmetic_add_sub.out

\section TutorialArithmeticScalarMulDiv Scalar multiplication and division

Multiplication and division by a scalar is very simple too. The operators at hand here are:
\li binary operator * as in \c matrix*scalar
\li binary operator * as in \c scalar*matrix
\li binary operator / as in \c matrix/scalar
\li compound operator *= as in \c matrix*=scalar
\li compound operator /= as in \c matrix/=scalar

Example: \include tut_arithmetic_scalar_mul_div.cpp
Output: \verbinclude tut_arithmetic_scalar_mul_div.out

\section TutorialArithmeticMentionXprTemplates A note about expression templates

This is an advanced topic that we explain in \ref TopicEigenExpressionTemplates "this page",
but it is useful to just mention it now. In Eigen, arithmetic operators such as \c operator+ don't
perform any computation by themselves, they just return an "expression object" describing the computation to be
performed. The actual computation happens later, when the whole expression is evaluated, typically in \c operator=.
While this might sound heavy, any modern optimizing compiler is able to optimize away that abstraction and
the result is perfectly optimized code. For example, when you do:
\code
VectorXf a(50), b(50), c(50), d(50);
...
a = 3*b + 4*c + 5*d;
\endcode
Eigen compiles it to just one for loop, so that the arrays are traversed only once. Simplyfying (e.g. ignoring
SIMD optimizations), this loop looks like this:
\code
for(int i = 0; i < 50; ++i)
  a[i] = 3*b[i] + 4*c[i] + 5*d[i];
\endcode
Thus, you should not be afraid of using relatively large arithmetic expressions with Eigen: it only gives Eigen
more opportunities for optimization.

\section TutorialArithmeticMatrixMul Matrix-matrix and matrix-vector multiplication

Matrix-matrix multiplication is again done with \c operator*. Since vectors are a special
case of matrices, they are implicitly handled there too, so matrix-vector product is really just a special
case of matrix-matrix product, and so is vector-vector outer product. Thus, all these cases are handled by just
two operators:
\li binary operator * as in \c a*b
\li compound operator *= as in \c a*=b

Example: \include tut_arithmetic_matrix_mul.cpp
Output: \verbinclude tut_arithmetic_matrix_mul.out

Note: if you read the above paragraph on expression templates and are worried that doing \c m=m*m might cause
aliasing issues, be reassured for now: Eigen treats matrix multiplication as a special case and takes care of
introducing a temporary here, so it will compile \c m=m*m as:
\code
tmp = m*m;
m = tmp;
\endcode
For more details on this topic, see \ref TopicEigenExpressionTemplates "this page".

\section TutorialArithmeticDotAndCross Dot product and cross product

The above-discussed \c operator* does not allow to compute dot and cross products. For that, you need the dot() and cross() methods.
Example: \include tut_arithmetic_dot_cross.cpp
Output: \verbinclude tut_arithmetic_dot_cross.out

Remember that cross product is only for vectors of size 3. Dot product is for vectors of any sizes.
When using complex numbers, Eigen's dot product is conjugate-linear in the first variable and linear in the
second variable.

\section TutorialArithmeticRedux Basic arithmetic reduction operations
Eigen also provides some reduction operations to obtain values such as the sum or the maximum
or minimum of all the coefficients in a given matrix or vector.

TODO: convert this from table format to tutorial/examples format.

<table class="tutorial_code" align="center">
<tr><td align="center">\b Reduction \b operation</td><td align="center">\b Usage \b example</td></tr>
<tr><td>
Sum of all the coefficients in a matrix</td><td>\code
MatrixXf m;
float totalSum = m.sum();\endcode</td></tr>
<tr><td>
Maximum coefficient in a matrix</td><td>\code
MatrixXf m;
int row, col;

// minimum value will be stored in minValue
//  and the row and column where it was found in row and col,
//  (these two parameters are optional)
float minValue = m.minCoeff(&row,&col);\endcode</td></tr>
<tr><td>
Maximum coefficient in a matrix</td><td>\code
MatrixXf m;
int row, col;

// maximum value will be stored in maxValue
//  and the row and column where it was found in row and col,
//  (these two parameters are optional)
float maxValue = m.maxCoeff(&row,&col);\endcode</td></tr>
<tr><td>
Product between all coefficients in a matrix</td><td>\code
MatrixXf m;

float product = m.prod();\endcode</td></tr>
<tr><td>
Mean of coefficients in a matrix</td><td>\code
MatrixXf m;

float mean = m.mean();\endcode</td></tr>
<tr><td>
Matrix's trace</td><td>\code
MatrixXf m;

float trace = m.trace();\endcode</td></tr>
</table>

\subsection TutorialArithmeticValidity Validity of operations
Eigen checks the validity of the operations that you perform. When possible,
it checks them at compile-time, producing compilation errors. These error messages can be long and ugly,
but Eigen writes the important message in UPPERCASE_LETTERS_SO_IT_STANDS_OUT. For example:
\code
  Matrix3f m;
  Vector4f v;
  v = m*v;      // Compile-time error: YOU_MIXED_MATRICES_OF_DIFFERENT_SIZES
\endcode

Of course, in many cases, for example when checking dynamic sizes, the check cannot be performed at compile time.
Eigen then uses runtime assertions. This means that executing an illegal operation will result in a crash at runtime,
with an error message.

\code
  MatrixXf m(3,3);
  VectorXf v(4);
  v = m * v; // Run-time assertion failure here: "invalid matrix product"
\endcode

For more details on this topic, see \ref TopicAssertions "this page".

\li \b Next: \ref TutorialArrayClass

*/

}