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Dimensions#

A dimension is a set of labels that entries are indexed over, such as the hours in snapshot or the units in generator. This page lists the keys a dimension accepts, the closed label lists of one_of, and the rule for the order of a dimension.

dimensions#

Each key under dimensions: declares one dimension, and every dimension that the file uses anywhere is declared here.

dimensions:
  snapshot: { dtype: int, ordered: true }
  generator: { dtype: str }
parameters:
  load: { dims: [snapshot] }
variables:
  dispatch: { dims: [snapshot, generator] }
constraints:
  power_balance:
    dims: [snapshot]
    expression: sum(dispatch, over=generator) == load

snapshot has integer labels in a fixed order, and generator has string labels in no order. sum(dispatch, over=generator) removes generator, so power_balance has one row per snapshot.

The order of the keys under dimensions:, and the order of a dims: list, change nothing. mathspec sorts both by name at load, and an entry is indexed over its dimensions in that order. So dispatch above prints as \(\mathit{dispatch}_{g,t}\), and the legend lists generator first.

Key What it sets Default
dtype the type of a label: float, int, str or datetime str
one_of the labels a str dimension allows null
ordered whether the order of the labels is part of the spec (ordered) false
description free text, which the typeset legend lists null

The file does not list the labels themselves. They arrive with the data, in the order that the data table lists them. With data attached, a piece of software that reads a spec (a tool) matches every entry indexed over the dimension to the labels.

mathspec loads a dimension that no entry uses, and for that dimension python -m mathspec check prints a message that does not refuse the file (advice).

The label of another dimension that each label has, such as the carrier of each generator, is a map, not a dimension.

one_of#

one_of lists every label that a str dimension allows. With one_of declared, mathspec checks at load the spelling of each label that a condition compares against.

dimensions:
  carrier: { dtype: str, one_of: [ccgt, ocgt, wind] }
  generator: { dtype: str }
maps:
  generator: { carrier: carrier }
variables:
  p: { dims: [generator], where: "generator[carrier] == 'wind'" }

p exists only at the generators whose carrier is wind. The map generator[carrier] gives each generator one carrier, and one_of makes wind one of three allowed labels.

A one_of list meets four rules:

  • Each label is a string, so mathspec refuses a number such as 2030 and accepts the string '2030'.
  • The list has at least one label, and each label once.
  • The dtype is str by default, so carrier: { one_of: [ccgt, ocgt, wind] } declares the same dimension. mathspec refuses a one_of with any other dtype.
  • In every other rule, the dimension is an ordinary str dimension.

The order of the list changes nothing. mathspec sorts it by name at load, so one_of: [wind, ccgt, ocgt] declares the same dimension.

At load, mathspec refuses a condition that compares the dimension, or a map into it, against a label that is not in the list. With generator[carrier] == 'gnrtr' in place of generator[carrier] == 'wind' above, mathspec prints:

Variable 'p': 'gnrtr' is not a label of 'carrier', which allows only ['ccgt', 'ocgt', 'wind']. Write one of them, or add 'gnrtr' to the one_of of 'carrier'.

mathspec lists the allowed labels and suggests two rewrites.

With data attached, a tool refuses a label outside the list: in the table of the dimension, in every column of a relation over it, and in the column of every map into it.

Only a dimension takes one_of, and a one_of key on a parameter is refused as an unknown key.

ordered#

ordered: true makes the order of the labels part of the spec. Five constructs use the order of a dimension, and each one requires ordered: true:

Construct What it uses
shift(x, along=d, offset=n), in an expression or a condition the label n positions back
sum_back(x, along=d, window=n) the last n labels
position(d) where a label sits along d
piecewise: with over: d which breakpoints are neighbours
a special ordered set (sos:) with type: 2 and along: d which labels are consecutive

The ramp constraint below steps back one snapshot, and snapshot is not declared ordered:

dimensions:
  snapshot: { dtype: int }
  generator: { dtype: str }
parameters:
  ramp_limit: { dims: [generator] }
variables:
  p: { dims: [snapshot, generator] }
constraints:
  ramp:
    dims: [snapshot, generator]
    expression: p - shift(p, along=snapshot, offset=1) <= ramp_limit

Constraint 'ramp': shift(along=snapshot) reads the order of 'snapshot', which is not declared ordered, so the order would come from the row order of the data. Declare 'snapshot: {ordered: true}' under dimensions:.
shift reads the label before along an ordered dimension The dimension snapshot is declared ordered, with labels 1, 2 and 3. The variable p is a table with three rows: generator wind at snapshot 1, 2 and 3. shift of p along snapshot with offset 1 is a table with two rows: at wind and snapshot 2 it holds p at wind and snapshot 1, and at wind and snapshot 3 it holds p at wind and snapshot 2. Snapshot 1 has no label before it, so shift has no row there and is absent. dimensions: snapshot: { dtype: int, ordered: true } p a variable generator snapshot wind1 wind2 wind3 offset=1 each label reads the one before it shift(p, along=snapshot, offset=1) an expression generator snapshot value wind2p[wind, 1] wind3p[wind, 2] no row for 1: no label before it absent: no row

The file loads once snapshot is declared { dtype: int, ordered: true }. With snapshots 1, 2 and 3 attached, shift has a row at snapshots 2 and 3 and none at 1.

An int dimension is not ordered unless it declares ordered: true.

An sos entry of type: 1 uses no order, so it needs no ordered: true.

edge='wrap' makes one shift cyclic, so that the first label steps back to the last. edge='wrap' does not change the dimension, and the dimension still needs ordered: true.

See also