sparse 3d matrix/array in Python?

Question

In scipy, we can construct a sparse matrix using scipy.sparse.lil_matrix() etc. But the matrix is in 2d.

I am wondering if there is an existing data structure for sp

Answer 1

I needed a 3d look up table for x,y,z and came up with this solution..
Why not use one of the dimensions to be a divisor of the third dimension? ie. use x and 'yz' as the matrix dimensions

eg. if x has 80 potential members, y has 100 potential' and z has 20 potential' you make the sparse matrix to be 80 by 2000 (i.e. xy=100x20)
x dimension is as usual
yz dimension: the first 100 elements will represent z=0, y=0 to 99
..............the second 100 will represent z=2, y=0 to 99 etc
so given element located at (x,y,z) would be in sparse matrix at (x, z*100 + y)
if you need to use negative numbers design a aritrary offset into your matrix translation. the solutio could be expanded to n dimensions if necessary

from scipy import sparse
m = sparse.lil_matrix((100,2000), dtype=float)

def add_element((x,y,z), element):
    element=float(element)
    m[x,y+z*100]=element

def get_element(x,y,z):
    return m[x,y+z*100]

add_element([3,2,4],2.2)
add_element([20,15,7], 1.2)
print get_element(0,0,0)
print get_element(3,2,4)
print get_element(20,15,7)
print "  This is m sparse:";print m

====================
OUTPUT:
0.0
2.2
1.2
  This is m sparse:
  (3, 402L) 2.2
  (20, 715L)    1.2
====================