Compute the Jacobian matrix in Python

Question

import numpy as np


a = np.array([[1,2,3],
              [4,5,6],
              [7,8,9]])


b = np.array([[1,2,3]]).T

c = a.dot(b) #function

jacobian = a # as partial         


        

Answer 1

The Jacobian is only defined for vector-valued functions. You cannot work with arrays filled with constants to calculate the Jacobian; you must know the underlying function and its partial derivatives, or the numerical approximation of these. This is obvious when you consider that the (partial) derivative of a constant (with respect to something) is 0.

In Python, you can work with symbolic math modules such as SymPy or SymEngine to calculate Jacobians of functions. Here's a simple demonstration of an example from Wikipedia:

Using the SymEngine module:

Python 2.7.11 (v2.7.11:6d1b6a68f775, Dec  5 2015, 20:40:30) [MSC v.1500 64 bit (AMD64)] on win32
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>>
>>> import symengine
>>>
>>>
>>> vars = symengine.symbols('x y') # Define x and y variables
>>> f = symengine.sympify(['y*x**2', '5*x + sin(y)']) # Define function
>>> J = symengine.zeros(len(f),len(vars)) # Initialise Jacobian matrix
>>>
>>> # Fill Jacobian matrix with entries
... for i, fi in enumerate(f):
...     for j, s in enumerate(vars):
...         J[i,j] = symengine.diff(fi, s)
...
>>> print J
[2*x*y, x**2]
[5, cos(y)]
>>>
>>> print symengine.Matrix.det(J)
2*x*y*cos(y) - 5*x**2