Question

The coefficient matrix in the global matrix format of the algebraic equations is a ______________

(a) sparse matrix

(b) dense matrix

(c) diagonal matrix

(d) symmetric matrix

The question was posed to me by my college professor while I was bunking the class.

This interesting question is from Numerical Methods in chapter Numerical Methods of Computational Fluid Dynamics

Answer 1

Correct option is (a) sparse matrix

To explain I would say: Each row in the coefficient matrix represents an equation corresponding to a single node. This equation contains coefficients of the neighbouring elements only depending on the element connectivity of the owner element. So, all other elements of that row become zero. This makes the coefficient matrix sparse.