  Topological data analysis combines machine learning with methods from
algebraic topology. Persistent homology, a method to characterize topological
features occurring in data at multiple scales is of particular interest. A
major obstacle to the wide-spread use of persistent homology is its
computational complexity. In order to be able to calculate persistent homology
of large datasets, a number of approximations can be applied in order to reduce
its complexity. We propose algorithms for calculation of approximate sparse
nerves for classes of Dowker dissimilarities including all finite Dowker
dissimilarities and Dowker dissimilarities whose homology is Cech persistent
homology. All other sparsification methods and software packages that we are
aware of calculate persistent homology with either an additive or a
multiplicative interleaving. In dowker_homology, we allow for any
non-decreasing interleaving function $\alpha$. We analyze the computational
complexity of the algorithms and present some benchmarks. For Euclidean data in
dimensions larger than three, the sizes of simplicial complexes we create are
in general smaller than the ones created by SimBa. Especially when calculating
persistent homology in higher homology dimensions, the differences can become
substantial.
