MATLAB: Do cell arrays take up so much more memory than arrays

MATLAB

Why do cell arrays take up so much more memory than arrays?
 >> v1 = 1;
 >> v2 = {1};
 >> whos
   Name      Size            Bytes  Class     Attributes
   v1        1x1                 8  double              
   v2        1x1               120  cell

Best Answer

The reason that cell arrays take up so much more memory is because they require a lot more overhead to store metadata about each element in the cell array, since each element could have a different type, size, etc.
Please refer to the following link for more information on strategies for efficient memory usage, particularly for cell arrays that have overhead.
https://www.mathworks.com/help/releases/R2017b/matlab/matlab_prog/strategies-for-efficient-use-of-memory.html#brh72ex-38
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