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NumPy Array Broadcasting - GeeksforGeeks

Last Updated : 11 Jul, 2025

Broadcasting in NumPy allows us to perform arithmetic operations on arrays of different shapes without reshaping them. It automatically adjusts the smaller array to match the larger array's shape by replicating its values along the necessary dimensions. This makes element-wise operations more efficient by reducing memory usage and eliminating the need for loops. In this article, we will see how broadcasting works.

Lets see an example:

import numpy as np

array_2d = np.array([[1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6]])  
scalar = 10  

result = array_2d + scalar
print(result)

Output:

[[11 12 13]
[14 15 16]]

In this example, the scalar value 10 is broadcasted to match the shape of the 2D array. As a result the scalar 10 is added to each element of the 2D array creating a new array where each element is increased by 10 which results in the output. This process simplifies element-wise operations and improves efficiency by avoiding explicit loops.

Broadcasting applies specific rules to find whether two arrays can be aligned for operations or not that are:

1. Check Dimensions: Ensure the arrays have the same number of dimensions or expandable dimensions.
2. Dimension Padding: If arrays have different numbers of dimensions the smaller array is left-padded with ones.
3. Shape Compatibility: Two dimensions are compatible if they are equal or one of them is 1.

If these conditions aren’t met NumPy will raise a ValueError.

Lets see various examples for broadcasting below:

It creates a NumPy array arr with values [1, 2, 3]. It adds a scalar value 1 to each element of the array using broadcasting.

import numpy as np
arr = np.array([1, 2, 3])

res = arr + 1  
print(res)

Output:

[2 3 4]

This example shows how a 1D array a1 is added to a 2D array a2. NumPy automatically expands the 1D array along the rows of the 2D array to perform element-wise addition.

import numpy as np

a1 = np.array([2, 4, 6])
a2 = np.array([[1, 3, 5], [7, 9, 11]])
res = a1 + a2
print(res)

Output:

[[ 3 7 11]
[ 9 13 17]]

It allows us to perform addition on arrays of different shapes without needing to reshape them.

We may need to apply a condition to an entire array or a subset of it. Broadcasting can help to perform these operations efficiently without needing loops.

import numpy as np

ages = np.array([12, 24, 35, 45, 60, 72])

age_group = np.array(["Adult", "Minor"])

result = np.where(ages > 18, age_group[0], age_group[1])

print(result)

Output:

['Minor' 'Adult' 'Adult' 'Adult' 'Adult' 'Adult']

In this example, broadcasting is used to efficiently check which elements in the ages array are greater than 18. Instead of looping through the array the condition is applied across the entire array using NumPy’s where() function. Result is an array of 'Adult' or 'Minor' based on the ages.

In this example, each element of a 2D matrix is multiplied by the corresponding element in a broadcasted vector.

import numpy as np
matrix = np.array([[1, 2], [3, 4]])
vector = np.array([10, 20])
result = matrix * vector
print(result)

Output:

[[10 40]
[30 80]]

The 1D vector is broadcasted across the rows of the 2D matrix matrix. This allows element-wise multiplication of corresponding elements between the matrix and the vector.

Consider a real-world scenario where we need to calculate the total calories in foods based on the amount of fats, proteins and carbohydrates. Each nutrient has a specific caloric value per gram.

• Fats: 9 calories per gram (CPG)
• Proteins: 4 CPG
• Carbohydrates: 4 CPG

Left table shows the original data with food items and their respective grams of fats, proteins and carbs. The array [3, 3, 8] represents the caloric values per gram for fats, proteins and carbs respectively. This array is being broadcast to match the dimensions of the original data and arrow indicates the broadcasting operation.

• Broadcasting array is multiplied element-wise with each row of the original data.
• As a result right table shows the result of the multiplication where each cell represents the caloric contribution of that specific nutrient in the food item.

import numpy as np
food_data = np.array([[0.8, 2.9, 3.9], 
                      [52.4, 23.6, 36.5],
                      [55.2, 31.7, 23.9],
                      [14.4, 11, 4.9]])

caloric_values = np.array([3, 3, 8]) 

caloric_matrix = caloric_values 

calorie_breakdown = food_data * caloric_matrix
print(calorie_breakdown)

Output:

The caloric values per gram are broadcasted across each row of the food data allowing us to find the calorie breakdown efficiently.

Suppose you have a 2D array representing daily temperature readings across multiple cities and you want to apply a correction factor to each city’s temperature data.

import numpy as np

temperatures = np.array([
    [30, 32, 34, 33, 31],  
    [25, 27, 29, 28, 26], 
    [20, 22, 24, 23, 21]  
])

corrections = np.array([1.5, -0.5, 2.0])

adjusted_temperatures = temperatures + corrections[:, np.newaxis]
print(adjusted_temperatures)

Output:

The correction factors for each city are broadcasted to match the shape of the temperatures array.

Normalization is important in many real-world scenarios like image processing and machine learning because it:

1. Centers data by subtracting the mean by ensuring features have zero mean.
2. Scales data by dividing by the standard deviation by ensuring features have unit variance.
3. Improves numerical stability and performance of algorithms like gradient descent.

Let's see how broadcasting simplifies normalization:

import numpy as np

image = np.array([
    [100, 120, 130],
    [90, 110, 140],
    [80, 100, 120]
])

mean = image.mean(axis=0)   
std = image.std(axis=0)    

normalized_image = (image - mean) / std
print(normalized_image)

Output:

Centering data is an important step in many machine learning workflows. Broadcasting helps center the data efficiently by subtracting the mean from each feature.

import numpy as np

data = np.array([
    [10, 20],
    [15, 25],
    [20, 30]
])

feature_mean = data.mean(axis=0)

centered_data = data - feature_mean
print(centered_data)

Output:

It allows us to subtract the mean of each feature from the corresponding values in the data helps in efficiently centering the data without needing loops.

Broadcasting in NumPy helps in efficient data manipulation which makes complex operations on arrays of different shapes both straightforward and computationally efficient.

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