What is sparse data and how is it used in SVM implementation?

[uwowizard]

Hi there,

I was looking at an SVM implementation svm-java and it accepts a parameter to indicate whether the data is sparse. What's the definition of the sparse data?

Thanks.

 

[gb7nash]

Sparse data is data that is easily compressed. Depending on the type of data that you're working with, it usually involves empty slots where data would go. Matrices, for instance, that are have lots of zeroes can be compressed and take up significantly less space in memory.