Sparse Matrices in
MATLAB
This presentation explores the concept of sparse matrices in
MATLAB, highlighting their advantages, creation, operations, and
applications.
by Music XXI
Introduction to Sparse
Matrices
1 Definition 2 Contrast to Dense
Matrices
Sparse matrices are
matrices with a significant Dense matrices have a
number of zero elements. high proportion of non-
zero elements.
3 Representations 4 Applications
Sparse matrices are Widely used in various
represented efficiently domains such as scientific
using specialized data computing, machine
structures to store only learning, and network
the non-zero elements analysis.
and their indices.
Advantages of Sparse Matrices
Memory Efficiency Computational Speed Practicality
Storing only non-zero elements Algorithms designed for sparse Real-world datasets often exhibit
significantly reduces memory matrices can perform operations sparsity, making sparse matrix
usage compared to dense faster by avoiding unnecessary techniques essential for efficient
matrices. computations on zero elements. processing.
Creating Sparse Matrices
Direct Initialization
Explicitly specifying non-zero elements and their
indices.
Conversion from Dense Matrices
Converting a dense matrix into a sparse format.
Specialized Functions
Using built-in MATLAB functions like `spdiags`,
`sprand`, and `speye`.
Storage and Memory
Allocation
Compressed Sparse Compressed Sparse
Row (CSR) Column (CSC)
Stores non-zero elements in Similar to CSR but stores
a single array, along with elements and indices based
row and column indices. on columns.
Coordinate List (COO)
Stores each non-zero element with its corresponding row and
column indices.
Basic Operations with
Sparse Matrices
1 Addition and Subtraction
Performed element-wise, with zero elements handled
implicitly.
2 Multiplication
Efficient algorithms are used to exploit sparsity and
avoid unnecessary computations.
3 Transpose
Involves swapping rows and columns, preserving the
sparsity pattern.
Advanced Sparse Matrix
Techniques
Technique Description
Iterative Solvers Efficiently solve large systems
of linear equations by iteratively
refining the solution.
Graph Algorithms Sparse matrices can represent
graphs, allowing for efficient
analysis of network properties.
Matrix Factorization Decompose sparse matrices
into lower-rank matrices to
extract underlying patterns and
reduce dimensionality.
Applications and Use Cases
Scientific Computing Machine Learning Network Analysis Image Processing
Modeling physical Representing high- Analyzing social networks, Efficiently storing and
phenomena, such as fluid dimensional data in transportation systems, manipulating images,
dynamics and heat recommendation systems and communication especially in compression
transfer. and natural language networks. and reconstruction
processing. algorithms.
