Understanding Array Reshaping: The Process and Considerations

Reshaping Arrays: What Happens to the Elements?

Before reshaping arrays, it is important to understand how the process of reshaping affects the elements within the array. Given an original array, what happens to the elements when we reshape it?

Final answer:

When reshaping an array, elements are rearranged to fit the new shape and the process typically follows a row-major order, depending on the programming language and library. The total elements before and after reshaping should match to prevent errors.

Explanation:

When you reshape an array, it does indeed reorder elements to fit into the new shape that you specify. However, this process does not necessarily proceed column-wise; it depends on the programming language and the specific function being used. In languages like Python, using NumPy, the default behavior of reshape is to fill the new array in row-major order (C-style), unless specified otherwise. It's important to ensure that the total number of elements in the new shape matches the total in the original array before reshaping to prevent data loss or errors.

For example, if you have an array with 6 elements arranged in a 2x3 (2 rows and 3 columns) order, reshaping it to a 3x2 order will rearrange the elements as follows: The top row of the original array will become the first column of the new array, and the middle row of the original will become the second column, and so on.

since reshape takes elements out of the original array column wise, before reshaping arrays is ?

When reshaping an array, elements are rearranged to fit the new shape and the process typically follows a row-major order, depending on the programming language and library. The total elements before and after reshaping should match to prevent errors.