Sparse matrix

A sparse matrix is a type of grid or table used to organize data where most of the cells are empty or contain zeroes. Instead of storing every cell explicitly, it focuses on efficiently storing only the non-zero or meaningful entries. This reduces memory usage and speeds up computations, especially in fields like scientific computing and machine learning. Think of it like a big spreadsheet where only a few cells have valuable data; a sparse matrix only keeps track of those few, making it more efficient to work with large, mostly-empty datasets.