dmm: (Default)
Dataflow matrix machines (by Anhinga anhinga) ([personal profile] dmm) wrote2023-12-02 04:58 pm

"Functional Collection Programming with Semi-Ring Dictionaries"

arxiv.org/abs/2103.06376

page 2: "Semi-ring dictionaries realize the well-known connection between relations and tensors" (from "In-Database Learning with Sparse Tensors" 2016-2018 paper)

chaource: (Default)

[personal profile] chaource 2023-12-05 10:57 am (UTC)(link)
Look again at this phrase:

Multiplication is defined in a way that is not commutative by default, where multiplying a dictionary with a scalar results in each value of the dictionary being multiplied by the scalar

This phrase is confusing: it says that multiplication is not commutative by default (what does "default" mean here?) and then it talks about multiplying dictionaries by scalars as if to illustrate the non-commutativity.

To understand what this means, you need to actually look into the paper and find what is commutative and what is non-commutative.

A reasonable rewrite would be: "Multiplication by scalars is in general non-commutative. (full stop, it's going to be a different topic now!) Multiplying a dictionary with a scalar results in ..."