what is meant by sparse(0)?

I know that if i write S=sparse(A) then it converts a full matrix into sparse form by squeezing out any zero elements. But if i write:

Mechanical_Load_External(1:Number_of_Cells*New_Dimension,1)=sparse(0);

then what does it mean? What value is assigned to the elements of the matrix?

Answer 1

[Adam]

Surely you can just test this in 5 seconds on the command line?

K>> sparse(0)

ans =

     All zero sparse: 1×1

Or read the documentation at

doc sparse

In this case it does exactly what you said for A, but with A = 0 so you end up with a scalar sparse matrix with no non-zero element. Which seems rather pointless, but I have no idea where the code you posted comes from and whether it is intended to make any sense or is just bad code!