Moving average or running mean

Question

Is there a SciPy function or NumPy function or module for Python that calculates the running mean of a 1D array given a specific window?

Answer 1

From reading the other answers I don't think this is what the question asked for, but I got here with the need of keeping a running average of a list of values that was growing in size.

So if you want to keep a list of values that you are acquiring from somewhere (a site, a measuring device, etc.) and the average of the last n values updated, you can use the code bellow, that minimizes the effort of adding new elements:

class Running_Average(object):
    def __init__(self, buffer_size=10):
        """
        Create a new Running_Average object.

        This object allows the efficient calculation of the average of the last
        `buffer_size` numbers added to it.

        Examples
        --------
        >>> a = Running_Average(2)
        >>> a.add(1)
        >>> a.get()
        1.0
        >>> a.add(1)  # there are two 1 in buffer
        >>> a.get()
        1.0
        >>> a.add(2)  # there's a 1 and a 2 in the buffer
        >>> a.get()
        1.5
        >>> a.add(2)
        >>> a.get()  # now there's only two 2 in the buffer
        2.0
        """
        self._buffer_size = int(buffer_size)  # make sure it's an int
        self.reset()

    def add(self, new):
        """
        Add a new number to the buffer, or replaces the oldest one there.
        """
        new = float(new)  # make sure it's a float
        n = len(self._buffer)
        if n < self.buffer_size:  # still have to had numbers to the buffer.
            self._buffer.append(new)
            if self._average != self._average:  # ~ if isNaN().
                self._average = new  # no previous numbers, so it's new.
            else:
                self._average *= n  # so it's only the sum of numbers.
                self._average += new  # add new number.
                self._average /= (n+1)  # divide by new number of numbers.
        else:  # buffer full, replace oldest value.
            old = self._buffer[self._index]  # the previous oldest number.
            self._buffer[self._index] = new  # replace with new one.
            self._index += 1  # update the index and make sure it's...
            self._index %= self.buffer_size  # ... smaller than buffer_size.
            self._average -= old/self.buffer_size  # remove old one...
            self._average += new/self.buffer_size  # ...and add new one...
            # ... weighted by the number of elements.

    def __call__(self):
        """
        Return the moving average value, for the lazy ones who don't want
        to write .get .
        """
        return self._average

    def get(self):
        """
        Return the moving average value.
        """
        return self()

    def reset(self):
        """
        Reset the moving average.

        If for some reason you don't want to just create a new one.
        """
        self._buffer = []  # could use np.empty(self.buffer_size)...
        self._index = 0  # and use this to keep track of how many numbers.
        self._average = float('nan')  # could use np.NaN .

    def get_buffer_size(self):
        """
        Return current buffer_size.
        """
        return self._buffer_size

    def set_buffer_size(self, buffer_size):
        """
        >>> a = Running_Average(10)
        >>> for i in range(15):
        ...     a.add(i)
        ...
        >>> a()
        9.5
        >>> a._buffer  # should not access this!!
        [10.0, 11.0, 12.0, 13.0, 14.0, 5.0, 6.0, 7.0, 8.0, 9.0]

        Decreasing buffer size:
        >>> a.buffer_size = 6
        >>> a._buffer  # should not access this!!
        [9.0, 10.0, 11.0, 12.0, 13.0, 14.0]
        >>> a.buffer_size = 2
        >>> a._buffer
        [13.0, 14.0]

        Increasing buffer size:
        >>> a.buffer_size = 5
        Warning: no older data available!
        >>> a._buffer
        [13.0, 14.0]

        Keeping buffer size:
        >>> a = Running_Average(10)
        >>> for i in range(15):
        ...     a.add(i)
        ...
        >>> a()
        9.5
        >>> a._buffer  # should not access this!!
        [10.0, 11.0, 12.0, 13.0, 14.0, 5.0, 6.0, 7.0, 8.0, 9.0]
        >>> a.buffer_size = 10  # reorders buffer!
        >>> a._buffer
        [5.0, 6.0, 7.0, 8.0, 9.0, 10.0, 11.0, 12.0, 13.0, 14.0]
        """
        buffer_size = int(buffer_size)
        # order the buffer so index is zero again:
        new_buffer = self._buffer[self._index:]
        new_buffer.extend(self._buffer[:self._index])
        self._index = 0
        if self._buffer_size < buffer_size:
            print('Warning: no older data available!')  # should use Warnings!
        else:
            diff = self._buffer_size - buffer_size
            print(diff)
            new_buffer = new_buffer[diff:]
        self._buffer_size = buffer_size
        self._buffer = new_buffer

    buffer_size = property(get_buffer_size, set_buffer_size)

And you can test it with, for example:

def graph_test(N=200):
    import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
    values = list(range(N))
    values_average_calculator = Running_Average(N/2)
    values_averages = []
    for value in values:
        values_average_calculator.add(value)
        values_averages.append(values_average_calculator())
    fig, ax = plt.subplots(1, 1)
    ax.plot(values, label='values')
    ax.plot(values_averages, label='averages')
    ax.grid()
    ax.set_xlim(0, N)
    ax.set_ylim(0, N)
    fig.show()

Which gives: