Time for action – creating a multidimensional array

Now that we know how to create a vector, we are ready to create a multidimensional NumPy array. After we create the array, we will again want to display its shape:

1. Create a two-by-two array:

   In: m = array([arange(2), arange(2)])
   In: m
   Out:
   array([[0, 1],
         [0, 1]])
   

2. Show the array shape:

   In: m.shape
   Out: (2, 2)
   

What just happened?

We created a two-by-two array with the arange() and array() functions we have come to trust and love. Without any warning, the array() function appeared on the stage.

The array() function creates an array from an object that you give to it. The object needs to be array-like, for instance, a Python list. In the preceding example, we passed in a list of arrays. The object is the only required argument of the array() function. NumPy functions tend to have a lot of optional arguments with predefined defaults. View the documentation for this function from the IPython shell with the help() function given here...