Skip to main content
`Ctrl`+`K`
scipy.interpolate.

# generate_knots

scipy.interpolate.generate_knots(x, y, *, w=None, xb=None, xe=None, k=3, s=0, nest=None)

  Generate knot vectors until the Least SQuares (LSQ) criterion is satified.

  Parameters:
    x, y array_like

      The data points defining the curve `y = f(x)`.

    w array_like, optional

      Weights.

    xb float, optional

      The boundary of the approximation interval. If None (default), is set to `x[0]`.

    xe float, optional

      The boundary of the approximation interval. If None (default), is set to `x[-1]`.

    k int, optional

      The spline degree. Default is cubic, `k = 3`.

    s float, optional

      The smoothing factor. Default is `s = 0`.

    nest int, optional

      Stop when at least this many knots are placed.

  Yields:
    t ndarray

      Knot vectors with an increasing number of knots. The generator is finite: it stops when the smoothing critetion is satisfied, or when then number of knots exceeds the maximum value: the user-provided nest or x.size + k + 1 — which is the knot vector for the interpolating spline.

  Notes

  The routine generates successive knots vectors of increasing length, starting from `2*(k+1)` to `len(x) + k + 1`, trying to make knots more dense in the regions where the deviation of the LSQ spline from data is large.

  When the maximum number of knots, `len(x) + k + 1` is reached (this happens when `s` is small and `nest` is large), the generator stops, and the last output is the knots for the interpolation with the not-a-knot boundary condition.

  Knots are located at data sites, unless `k` is even and the number of knots is `len(x) + k + 1`. In that case, the last output of the generator has internal knots at Greville sites, `(x[1:] + x[:-1]) / 2`.

  Added in version 1.15.0.

  Examples

  Generate some noisy data and fit a sequence of LSQ splines:

      >>> import numpy as np
      >>> import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
      >>> from scipy.interpolate import make_lsq_spline, generate_knots
      >>> rng = np.random.default_rng()
      >>> x = np.linspace(-3, 3, 50)
      >>> y = np.exp(-x**2) + 0.1 * rng.standard_normal(size=50)

      >>> knots = list(generate_knots(x, y, s=1e-10))
      >>> for t in knots[::3]:
      ...     spl = make_lsq_spline(x, y, t)
      ...     xs = xs = np.linspace(-3, 3, 201)
      ...     plt.plot(xs, spl(xs), '-', label=f'n = {len(t)}', lw=3, alpha=0.7)
      >>> plt.plot(x, y, 'o', label='data')
      >>> plt.plot(xs, np.exp(-xs**2), '--')
      >>> plt.legend()

  Note that increasing the number of knots make the result follow the data more and more closely.

  Also note that a step of the generator may add multiple knots:

      >>> [len(t) for t in knots]
      [8, 9, 10, 12, 16, 24, 40, 48, 52, 54]