MATLAB: sparse matrices in matlab anamoly?

[manjuvenamma]

In MATLAB, Why is sparse(rand(4)) not same as sprand(4)? Is it not supposed to be? What is the reason? Please see the interaction in MATLAB pasted below.

sprand(4)

ans =

(1,1) 0.8147

>> rand(4)

ans =

0.9058 0.0975 0.9649 0.4854
0.1270 0.2785 0.1576 0.8003
0.9134 0.5469 0.9706 0.1419
0.6324 0.9575 0.9572 0.4218

>> sparse(ans)

ans =

(1,1) 0.9058
(2,1) 0.1270
(3,1) 0.9134
(4,1) 0.6324
(1,2) 0.0975
(2,2) 0.2785
(3,2) 0.5469
(4,2) 0.9575
(1,3) 0.9649
(2,3) 0.1576
(3,3) 0.9706
(4,3) 0.9572
(1,4) 0.4854
(2,4) 0.8003
(3,4) 0.1419
(4,4) 0.4218

 

[Wrichik Basu]

You haven't understood the meaning of sparse matrices. Sparse matrices store only those values that are NOT zero. Thereby, they decrease memory allocation. Your rand(4) function call didn't return any 0 value, so using sparse function on the answer has no affect.
https://in.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/sparse.html