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22.1 Creation and Manipulation of Sparse Matrices
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The size of mathematical problems that can be treated at any particular
time is generally limited by the available computing resources.  Both,
the speed of the computer and its available memory place limitation on
the problem size.

   There are many classes of mathematical problems which give rise to
matrices, where a large number of the elements are zero.  In this case
it makes sense to have a special matrix type to handle this class of
problems where only the nonzero elements of the matrix are stored.  Not
only does this reduce the amount of memory to store the matrix, but it
also means that operations on this type of matrix can take advantage of
the a priori knowledge of the positions of the nonzero elements to
accelerate their calculations.

   A matrix type that stores only the nonzero elements is generally
called sparse.  It is the purpose of this document to discuss the basics
of the storage and creation of sparse matrices and the fundamental
operations on them.

Storage of Sparse Matrices

Creating Sparse Matrices

Information

Operators and Functions