UCF Physics: AST 5765/4762: (Advanced) Astronomical Data Analysis
Fall 2009 Homework 2
Due Tuesday 8 September 2009
Work:
Become sufficiently familiar with Python to:
1. Start Python,
2. Allocate, manipulate, and get information about arrays,
3. Print the value of any cell in an array,
4. Change values in an array according to given mathematical or positional criteria (e.g., zero
every 5th pixel, set all values greater than 100 to -2000, set a given rectangular sub-array to
a given value, insert one array into another),
5. View images and manipulate image colormaps interactively from Python,
6. Make line plots and figures with images, write them in standard formats,
7. Use available resources to find functions, packages, and any instructions you need.
Resources:
1. Do the Matplotlib tutorial.
2. Do sections 1 and 2 of the Using Python for Interactive Data Analysis tutorial. The exercises
are for your edification (don’t hand them in).
3. See handout for other suggested readings.
Hand in:
Do not use loops for any problem on this assignment. The files you hand in should include a
text file that provides all the commands to do the exercises, named as instructed on the syllabus.
Put images (plots, screendumps, etc.) in separate files as described on the syllabus. Finding the
right documentation is part of the assignment!
NOTE: The problems here can be done with much less than the full reading assignment above.
Be sure you have mastered the material needed to do the problems, and then get as far as you can
in the reading assignment and its exercises. You will be using all of that material, and more, in the
rest of the course.
1. Write a set of Python commands that:
(a) Create a Float64 array, x, of integers from 0 to 1000 (how many elements do you
need?).
(b) Re-scale xto contain values from 0 to 2π.
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