Why does L1 regularization lead to sparsity?
Updated May 15, 2026
Short answer
It drives some coefficients exactly to zero.
Deep explanation
L1 penalty creates a diamond-shaped constraint leading to sparse solutions.
Real-world example
Feature selection in gene expression analysis.
Common mistakes
- Confusing L1 with L2 shrinkage.
Follow-up questions
- What is Elastic Net?
- Why sparsity matters?