How can I multiply a vector and a matrix in tensorflow without reshaping?

Question

This:

import numpy as np
a = np.array([1, 2, 1])
w = np.array([[.5, .6], [.7, .8], [.7, .8]])

print(np.dot(a, w))
# [ 2.6  3. ] # plain nice old matrix multiplication n x (n, m) -> m

import tensorflow as tf

a = tf.constant(a, dtype=tf.float64)
w = tf.constant(w)

with tf.Session() as sess:
    print(tf.matmul(a, w).eval())

results in:

C:\_\Python35\python.exe C:/Users/MrD/.PyCharm2017.1/config/scratches/scratch_31.py
[ 2.6  3. ]
# bunch of errors in windows...
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\_\Python35\lib\site-packages\tensorflow\python\framework\common_shapes.py", line 671, in _call_cpp_shape_fn_impl
    input_tensors_as_shapes, status)
  File "C:\_\Python35\lib\contextlib.py", line 66, in __exit__
    next(self.gen)
  File "C:\_\Python35\lib\site-packages\tensorflow\python\framework\errors_impl.py", line 466, in raise_exception_on_not_ok_status
    pywrap_tensorflow.TF_GetCode(status))
tensorflow.python.framework.errors_impl.InvalidArgumentError: Shape must be rank 2 but is rank 1 for 'MatMul' (op: 'MatMul') with input shapes: [3], [3,2].

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:/Users/MrD/.PyCharm2017.1/config/scratches/scratch_31.py", line 14, in <module>
    print(tf.matmul(a, w).eval())
  File "C:\_\Python35\lib\site-packages\tensorflow\python\ops\math_ops.py", line 1765, in matmul
    a, b, transpose_a=transpose_a, transpose_b=transpose_b, name=name)
  File "C:\_\Python35\lib\site-packages\tensorflow\python\ops\gen_math_ops.py", line 1454, in _mat_mul
    transpose_b=transpose_b, name=name)
  File "C:\_\Python35\lib\site-packages\tensorflow\python\framework\op_def_library.py", line 763, in apply_op
    op_def=op_def)
  File "C:\_\Python35\lib\site-packages\tensorflow\python\framework\ops.py", line 2329, in create_op
    set_shapes_for_outputs(ret)
  File "C:\_\Python35\lib\site-packages\tensorflow\python\framework\ops.py", line 1717, in set_shapes_for_outputs
    shapes = shape_func(op)
  File "C:\_\Python35\lib\site-packages\tensorflow\python\framework\ops.py", line 1667, in call_with_requiring
    return call_cpp_shape_fn(op, require_shape_fn=True)
  File "C:\_\Python35\lib\site-packages\tensorflow\python\framework\common_shapes.py", line 610, in call_cpp_shape_fn
    debug_python_shape_fn, require_shape_fn)
  File "C:\_\Python35\lib\site-packages\tensorflow\python\framework\common_shapes.py", line 676, in _call_cpp_shape_fn_impl
    raise ValueError(err.message)
ValueError: Shape must be rank 2 but is rank 1 for 'MatMul' (op: 'MatMul') with input shapes: [3], [3,2].

Process finished with exit code 1

(not sure why the same exception is raised inside its handling)

The solution suggested in Tensorflow exception with matmul is reshaping the vector to a matrix but this leads to needlessly complicated code - is there still no other way to multiply a vector with a matrix?

Incidentally using expand_dims (as suggested in the link above) with default arguments raises a ValueError - that's not mentioned in the docs and defeats the purpose of having a default argument.

Answer 1

You can use tf.tensordot and set axes=1. For the simple operation of a vector times a matrix, this is a bit cleaner than tf.einsum

tf.tensordot(a, w, 1)