title: How to identify numpy types in python?
body: <p>How can one reliably determine if an object has a numpy type?</p>
  
  <p>I realize that this question goes against the philosophy of duck typing, but idea is to make sure a function (which uses scipy and numpy) never returns a numpy type unless it is called with a numpy type.  <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/12565735/scipy-function-always-returns-a-numpy-array">This comes up in the solution to another question,</a> but I think the general problem of determining if an object has a numpy type is far enough away from that original question that they should be separated.</p>