python - How to arrive at the unit matrix from numpy.dot(A, A_inv)

Question

I prepare a matrix of random numbers, calculate its inverse and matrix multiply it with the original matrix. This, in theory, gives the unit matrix. How can I let numpy do that for me?

import numpy

A = numpy.zeros((100,100))
E = numpy.zeros((100,100))

size = 100

for i in range(size):
    for j in range(size):
        A[i][j]+=numpy.random.randint(10)
        if i == j:
            E[i][j]+=1

A_inv = numpy.linalg.linalg.inv(A)
print numpy.dot(A, A_inv)

Running the code produces

[me]machine @ numeric $ python rand_diag.py 
[[  1.00000000e+00  -7.99360578e-15  -1.14491749e-16 ...,   3.81639165e-17
   -4.42701431e-15   1.17961196e-15]
[ -5.55111512e-16   1.00000000e+00  -2.22044605e-16 ...,  -3.88578059e-16
    1.33226763e-15  -8.32667268e-16]

It's evident the result is a unit matrix, but not precisely, so print numpy.dot(A, A_inv) == E evidently gives False. I'm doing this for practicing linear algebra and trying to find the size of the matrix for which my machine arrives at its limits. Getting a True would be didactically appealing.

Edit:

Setting size=10000, I run out of memory

[me]machine @ numeric $ Python(794) malloc:
***mmap(size=800002048) failed (error code=12)
*** error: can't allocate region
*** set a breakpoint in malloc_error_break to debug
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "rand_diag.py", line 14, in <module>     A_inv = numpy.linalg.linalg.inv(A)
File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/7.2/lib/python2.7/site-packages/numpy/linalg/linalg.py", line 445, in inv
return wrap(solve(a, identity(a.shape[0], dtype=a.dtype)))
File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/7.2/lib/python2.7/site-packages/numpy/linalg/linalg.py", line 323, in solve
a, b = _fastCopyAndTranspose(t, a, b)
File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/7.2/lib/python2.7/site-packages/numpy/linalg/linalg.py", line 143, in _fastCopyAndTranspose
cast_arrays = cast_arrays + (_fastCT(a),)
MemoryError

[1]+  Exit 1                  python rand_diag.py

How can I allocate more memory and how can I run this in parallel (I have 4 cores)?

Answer 1

While getting True would be didactically appealing, it would also be divorced from the realities of floating-point computations.

When dealing with the floating point, one necessarily has to be prepared not only for inexact results, but for all manner of other numerical issues that arise.

I highly recommend reading What Every Computer Scientist Should Know About Floating-Point Arithmetic.

In your particular case, to ensure that A * inv(A) is close enough to the identity matrix, you could compute a matrix norm of numpy.dot(A, A_inv) - E and ensure that it is small enough.

As a side note, you don't have to use a loop to populate A and E. Instead, you could just use

A = numpy.random.randint(0, 10, (size,size))
E = numpy.eye(size)