[Numpy-discussion] numpy oddity

[Johann Cohen-Tanugi]

I have numpy version 1.6.1 and I see the following behavior :

In [380]: X
Out[380]: 1.0476157527896641

In [381]: X.__class__
Out[381]: numpy.float64

In [382]: (2,3)*X
Out[382]: (2, 3)

In [383]: (2,3)/X
Out[383]: array([ 1.90909691,  2.86364537])

In [384]: X=float(X)

In [385]: (2,3)/X
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TypeError                                 Traceback (most recent call last)
/home/cohen/<ipython-input-385-cafbe080bfd5> in <module>()
----> 1 (2,3)/X

TypeError: unsupported operand type(s) for /: 'tuple' and 'float'


So it appears that X being a numpy float allows numpy to play some trick 
on the tuple so that division becomes possible, which regular built-in 
float does not allow arithmetics with tuples.
But why is multiplication with "*" not following the same prescription?

best,
Johann