Representation and manipulation of errors in numeric arrays

Abstract

In an embodiment, a computer system accesses various different data entries in dense data array, where at least one of those data entries in the dense data array is invalid. The computer system creates an associated sparse data array that includes multiple data entries with zero values as well as data entries with non-zero values. The non-zero data entries are configured to store location information and data values for each of the invalid data entries in the dense array. The zero-value data entries are inferred from the location information of the non-zero data entries. The computer system stores the location information and data values of the non-zero data entries in the sparse data array. Those data values stored in the sparse array are proportional to the number of invalid values in the dense array.