Riemann Sum Class (with variable endpoint behavior)

Question

Here is my class for calculating a Riemann Sum. I did a cursory google search for a built-in function with these specifications but didn't find anything (I'm sure I just missed it or didn't look hard enough, but this is good practice).

Your input is welcome and appreciated. I'd like to not have to assign a lambda function to a variable but it works for me. I just worry that someone using this code may get confused.

from numpy import arange
class RiemannSum(object):
 def __init__(self, index, upper, rectangles, func, endpoints='mid'):
 """
 Constructor for base class for Riemann Sums.
 Will be subclassed for left, right, or mid-points for rectangles.
 :param index: Where to begin 'n' value. [n = index]
 :param upper: Upper bound of sum. Max 'n' value. [Number above sigma notation]
 :param rectangles: The number of rectangles to be used in the calculation.
 :param func: pass series function here; suggest assigning lambda function to variable and passing here
 :param endpoints: default to 'mid'. Valid values are 'mid', 'left', 'right' as strings
 """
 self.total = 0
 self.index = index
 self.upper = upper
 self.delta = (upper - index) / rectangles
 self.function = func
 if endpoints.lower() == 'left': # left endpoints
 self.points = arange(self.index, self.upper, self.delta)
 elif endpoints.lower() == 'right': # right endpoints
 self.points = arange(self.index + self.delta, self.upper + self.delta, self.delta)
 else: # mid endpoints, usually most accurate
 diff = self.delta / 2
 self.points = [i for i in arange((self.index + diff),
 (self.upper + diff), self.delta)]
 def sum(self):
 outputs = [i for i in map(self.function, self.points)]
 self.total = sum(outputs)
 return self.delta * self.total

Here is an example of the code in use:

from math import sqrt
series = sqrt(x) - 2
num = RiemannSum(1,6,5,series,'mid').sum()
print(num)

• Acccumulation: I'm not clear of what you mean as far as "having" to assign a lambda function to a variable. Are you aware that functions can be passed just like any other parameter? For instance, if you do def square_it(x): return(x**2), then you can pass square_it as the func parameter. Also, docs.scipy.org/doc/scipy/reference/tutorial/integrate.html
• Hanzy: Sorry for being unclear; I am aware that functions can e passed as arguments but just found it easier to assign a lambda function to variable when doing a bunch of problems in an online quiz. Each series would have to be defined as a function and since they were throw-away assignments (only for the quiz question) I just used lambda. I thought there would be an integrate SciPy, thanks! This was made for less accurate Riemann Sums which were, surprisingly, required for an online Calc 2 quiz. I figured I could possibly use it again in the future...

Answer 1

If something is called "RiemannSum", then it should return a sum. If you want summation to be a separate method, a better term would be "partition"; you could do RiemannPartition.sum(), for instance.

Several other variable names are bit unintuitive to me (e.g. rectangles, index).

You can eliminate several lines by doing:

offset = {'left':0,'right':self.delta,'mid':self.delta/2}[self.endpoints.lower()]
self.points = arange(self.index+offset, self.upper+offset, self.delta)

General tip: if you're doing an if-then with several elif/else clauses, consider whether a dictionary would be simpler.