sparsity

noun

Etymology: Etymology tree English sparse Proto-Indo-European *-teh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-ts Proto-Indo-European *-teh₂ts Latin -itāsder. Old French -itebor. Middle English -ite English -ity English sparsity From sparse + -ity.

1. The property of being sparse; sparseness.

   “It is this duplication of facilities which is mainly responsible for the poor loadings experienced on the Midland & Great Northern line, apart, of course, from the general sparsity of traffic in Northern Norfolk, and the fenlands around the Wash.”

   “And an operation on a mixture of sparse and full matrices produces a sparse result unless the operator ordinarily destroys sparsity.”