JuliaDiff / JuliaDiff/ForwardDiff.jl

Cancellation with sparse arrays

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bug
Dominant language
Julia
Stars
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Forks
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Description

Consider a function $f(t)$ such that $f(0)$ is the fully zero sparse vector. Apparently, ForwardDiff cannot compute $f'(0)$.

julia> using ForwardDiff: derivative

julia> using SparseArrays: sparse

julia> x = sparse([1.0]);

julia> dx = [1.0];

julia> derivative(t -> x + t * dx - x, 0)  # incorrect
1-element SparseVector{Float64, Int64} with 0 stored entries

julia> derivative(t -> Vector(x) + t * dx - Vector(x), 0)  # correct
1-element Vector{Float64}:
 1.0

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Research direction

Reproduce the issue with the Julia sparse-array and dense-array examples shown in the report, then trace ForwardDiff's derivative path for sparse results and cancellation at t=0. Done means the sparse-array case produces the expected derivative rather than an empty sparse vector, with regression coverage for the reported example.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
julia
Domain
tooling
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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