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- Xref: sparky sci.math:17390 sci.engr:2413
- Newsgroups: sci.math,sci.engr
- Path: sparky!uunet!wupost!emory!gatech!usenet.ins.cwru.edu!eagle!ariel.lerc.nasa.gov!ecaxron
- From: ecaxron@ariel.lerc.nasa.gov (Ron Graham)
- Subject: Question about "sparsity" of matrices
- Message-ID: <24DEC199211261595@ariel.lerc.nasa.gov>
- News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41
- Sender: news@eagle.lerc.nasa.gov
- Nntp-Posting-Host: ariel.lerc.nasa.gov
- Organization: NASA Lewis Research Center
- Date: 24 Dec 1992 11:26 EST
- Lines: 16
-
- I ask your pardon if this question is too simple, or if the subject has
- been discussed already. I am posting this question to two newsgroups,
- one of which I do not currently subscribe to.
-
- Is there a measure for the "sparsity" (or maybe I should say "sparseness"?)
- of a matrix? We know that a sparse matrix has a lot of zeroes in it. But
- who decides when the matrix is sparse? Are there degrees of sparseness?
-
- The answer to this question will help us determine a test plan for a
- matrix inversion algorithm we are currently testing in an engineering
- application. Pointers to references welcomed, will summarize any
- conscientious responses.
-
- RG
-
- Who became an engineer thinking "free-body diagrams" might be interesting.
-