[HN Gopher] The Tensor Cookbook (2024)
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       The Tensor Cookbook (2024)
        
       Author : t55
       Score  : 131 points
       Date   : 2025-01-31 18:47 UTC (13 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (tensorcookbook.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (tensorcookbook.com)
        
       | robblbobbl wrote:
       | Great job!
        
       | keithalewis wrote:
       | This is incomplete, incorrect, and irrelevant. Standard notation
       | already exists. I'm sure it is fun to draw squiggly lines and
       | some people enjoy reinventing the wheel. Spend some time learning
       | what others have taught us before striking out on your own lonely
       | path.
        
         | llm_trw wrote:
         | This is standard notation that's been used for decades.
         | 
         | https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.01790v1
        
           | chriskanan wrote:
           | This paper motivates and explains concepts much better than
           | the Tensor Cookbook.
        
             | llm_trw wrote:
             | The cookbook is a work in progress by the looks of it.
        
           | keithalewis wrote:
           | "This book aims to standardize the notation for tensor
           | diagrams..." https://youtu.be/zELbzXAmcUA?t=73
        
         | HighlandSpring wrote:
         | Do point us at this standard notation
        
           | ok123456 wrote:
           | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein_notation
        
             | keithalewis wrote:
             | The author also seems to be unaware of Frechet derivatives.
        
       | hnarayanan wrote:
       | What even is this notation??
        
         | abecedarius wrote:
         | See the link at bottom right to "Penrose graphical notation".
         | 
         | (I have nothing to do with the site.)
        
       | gweinberg wrote:
       | Why is counting lines easier than just using numbers? A vector is
       | a 1 tensor, a matrix is a 2 tensor, a 3 tensor is a 3 tensor, and
       | a scalar is a zero tensor!
        
         | absolutelastone wrote:
         | It's easier to see where the contractions are, since the same
         | line connects two tensors, versus hunting for repeated indices
         | in a mess of many indices among many tensors multiplied
         | together.
        
       | chriskanan wrote:
       | The Matrix Cookbook was one of the most useful texts I had in the
       | late 2000s during my PhD for computing update rules for loss
       | functions. With autograd now widely employed, I don't think it is
       | as fundamental as it was.
       | 
       | Given that, what additional value is The Tensor Cookbook
       | providing such that it is worth learning an entirely new notation
       | (for me)? It would probably require long term usage to really
       | benefit from these visual depictions.
        
         | kengoa wrote:
         | I encountered it during my masters in 2019 and it still remains
         | my favourite textbook to this day.
        
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