Broadcasting Rules
Understand NumPy's broadcasting rules so you can add a 1-D array to every row of a 2-D array without explicit replication.
The Problem Broadcasting Solves
Broadcasting lets NumPy combine arrays of different but compatible shapes without copying data — the smaller one is stretched to fit the larger.
import numpy as np
# Adding a scalar to an array is the simplest broadcast
a = np.array([1, 2, 3])
print(a + 10) # [11 12 13]
# Scalar 10 is 'broadcast' to shape (3,)Broadcasting Rule 1: Prepend 1s
NumPy lines up shapes from the right. If one array has fewer dimensions, it pads the left with 1s — so a (3,) array acts like (1, 3) next to a (4, 3) one.
import numpy as np
m = np.ones((4, 3))
v = np.array([10, 20, 30]) # shape (3,) -> treated as (1, 3)
result = m + v # shape (4, 3)
print(result)
# [[11. 21. 31.]
# [11. 21. 31.]
# [11. 21. 31.]
# [11. 21. 31.]]