(data structure)
Definition: A matrix that has relatively few non-zero (or "interesting") entries. It may be represented in much less than n × m space.
Aggregate child (... is a part of or used in me.)
list, orthogonal lists, array, or point access method.
See also ragged matrix, huge sparse array.
Note: A n × m matrix with k non-zero entries is sparse if k << n × m. It may be faster to represent the matrix compactly as a list of the non-zero entries in coordinate format (the value and its row/column position), as a list or array of lists of entries (one list for each row), two orthogonal lists (one list for each column and one list for each row), or by a point access method.
Author: PEB
A picture of a sparse matrix with orthogonal lists. Yousef Saad's Iterative methods for sparse linear systems (PDF), chapters 1-3 of a textbook covering linear algebra and types of matrices. Sparse matrix implementations, including the coordinate format, begin on page 85 (PDF page 97). Other formats and information on a newer edition.
If you have suggestions, corrections, or comments, please get in touch with Paul E. Black.
Entry modified 4 February 2009.
HTML page formatted Wed Feb 4 11:08:37 2009.
Cite this as:
Paul E. Black, "sparse matrix", in
Dictionary of Algorithms and Data
Structures [online], Paul E. Black, ed.,
U.S. National Institute of
Standards and Technology. 4 February 2009. (accessed TODAY)
Available from: http://www.itl.nist.gov/div897/sqg/dads/HTML/sparsematrix.html
