diff --git a/mllib/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/mllib/linalg/Matrices.scala b/mllib/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/mllib/linalg/Matrices.scala
index 0a615494bb2d13f5fcd6601c70fa06e9309cede8..75e7004464af99aa87d3ccbc120af407f66154d3 100644
--- a/mllib/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/mllib/linalg/Matrices.scala
+++ b/mllib/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/mllib/linalg/Matrices.scala
@@ -114,6 +114,16 @@ sealed trait Matrix extends Serializable {
    *          corresponding value in the matrix with type `Double`.
    */
   private[spark] def foreachActive(f: (Int, Int, Double) => Unit)
+
+  /**
+   * Find the number of non-zero active values.
+   */
+  def numNonzeros: Int
+
+  /**
+   * Find the number of values stored explicitly. These values can be zero as well.
+   */
+  def numActives: Int
 }
 
 @DeveloperApi
@@ -324,6 +334,10 @@ class DenseMatrix(
     }
   }
 
+  override def numNonzeros: Int = values.count(_ != 0)
+
+  override def numActives: Int = values.length
+
   /**
    * Generate a `SparseMatrix` from the given `DenseMatrix`. The new matrix will have isTransposed
    * set to false.
@@ -593,6 +607,11 @@ class SparseMatrix(
   def toDense: DenseMatrix = {
     new DenseMatrix(numRows, numCols, toArray)
   }
+
+  override def numNonzeros: Int = values.count(_ != 0)
+
+  override def numActives: Int = values.length
+
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/mllib/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/mllib/linalg/MatricesSuite.scala b/mllib/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/mllib/linalg/MatricesSuite.scala
index 8dbb70f5d1c4c85f3ba6ceae6c3580ae766ea794..a270ba2562db9450cec5015c5e5ef8ab2475730d 100644
--- a/mllib/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/mllib/linalg/MatricesSuite.scala
+++ b/mllib/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/mllib/linalg/MatricesSuite.scala
@@ -455,4 +455,14 @@ class MatricesSuite extends SparkFunSuite {
     lines = mat.toString(5, 100).lines.toArray
     assert(lines.size == 5 && lines.forall(_.size <= 100))
   }
+
+  test("numNonzeros and numActives") {
+    val dm1 = Matrices.dense(3, 2, Array(0, 0, -1, 1, 0, 1))
+    assert(dm1.numNonzeros === 3)
+    assert(dm1.numActives === 6)
+
+    val sm1 = Matrices.sparse(3, 2, Array(0, 2, 3), Array(0, 2, 1), Array(0.0, -1.2, 0.0))
+    assert(sm1.numNonzeros === 1)
+    assert(sm1.numActives === 3)
+  }
 }
diff --git a/project/MimaExcludes.scala b/project/MimaExcludes.scala
index 6f86a505b3ae4a05fca4044df92dd2ab1560818d..680b699e9e4a1765f8e6ce403e6aa3666bb42eb7 100644
--- a/project/MimaExcludes.scala
+++ b/project/MimaExcludes.scala
@@ -75,6 +75,12 @@ object MimaExcludes {
               "org.apache.spark.sql.parquet.ParquetTypeInfo"),
             ProblemFilters.exclude[MissingClassProblem](
               "org.apache.spark.sql.parquet.ParquetTypeInfo$")
+          ) ++ Seq(
+            // SPARK-8479 Add numNonzeros and numActives to Matrix.
+            ProblemFilters.exclude[MissingMethodProblem](
+              "org.apache.spark.mllib.linalg.Matrix.numNonzeros"),
+            ProblemFilters.exclude[MissingMethodProblem](
+              "org.apache.spark.mllib.linalg.Matrix.numActives")
           )
         case v if v.startsWith("1.4") =>
           Seq(