Although the origins of parallel computing go back to the last century, it was only in the 1970s that parallel and vector computers became available to the scientific community. The first of these machines-the 64 processor llliac IV and the vector computers built by Texas Instruments, Control Data Corporation, and then CRA Y Research Corporation-had a somewhat limited impact. They were few in number and available mostly to workers in a few government laboratories. By now, however, the trickle has become a flood. There are over 200 large-scale vector computers now installed, not only in government laboratories but also in universities and in an increasing diversity of industries. Moreover, the National Science Foundation's Super computing Centers have made large vector computers widely available to the academic community. In addition, smaller, very cost-effective vector computers are being manufactured by a number of companies. Parallelism in computers has also progressed rapidly. The largest super computers now consist of several vector processors working in parallel. Although the number of processors in such machines is still relatively small (up to 8), it is expected that an increasing number of processors will be added in the near future (to a total of 16 or 32). Moreover, there are a myriad of research projects to build machines with hundreds, thousands, or even more processors. Indeed, several companies are now selling parallel machines, some with as many as hundreds, or even tens of thousands, of processors.

The author studies the iterative solution of a tridiagonal linear system of size m on a parallel or vector computer. Such systems arise commonly in the numerical solution of partial differential equations. (Modified author abstract).

This book introduces the basic concepts of parallel and vector computing in the context of an introduction to numerical methods. It contains chapters on parallel and vector matrix multiplication and solution of linear systems by direct and iterative methods. It is suitable for advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate courses in computer science, applied mathematics, and engineering. Ideally, students will have access to a parallel or Vector computer, but the material can be studied profitably in any case. - Gives a modern overview of scientific computing including parallel an vector computation - Introduces numerical methods for both ordinary and partial differential equations - Has considerable discussion of both direct and iterative methods for linear systems of equations, including parallel and vector algorithms - Covers most of the main topics for a first course in numerical methods and can serve as a text for this course

This is the first in a new series of books presenting research results and developments concerning the theory and applications of parallel computers, including vector, pipeline, array, fifth/future generation computers, and neural computers.All aspects of high-speed computing fall within the scope of the series, e.g. algorithm design, applications, software engineering, networking, taxonomy, models and architectural trends, performance, peripheral devices.Papers in Volume One cover the main streams of parallel linear algebra: systolic array algorithms, message-passing systems, algorithms for parallel shared-memory systems, and the design of fast algorithms and implementations for vector supercomputers.

Mathematics of Computing -- Parallelism.

Describes a selection of important parallel algorithms for matrix computations. Reviews the current status and provides an overall perspective of parallel algorithms for solving problems arising in the major areas of numerical linear algebra, including (1) direct solution of dense, structured, or sparse linear systems, (2) dense or structured least squares computations, (3) dense or structured eigenvaluen and singular value computations, and (4) rapid elliptic solvers. The book emphasizes computational primitives whose efficient execution on parallel and vector computers is essential to obtain high performance algorithms. Consists of two comprehensive survey papers on important parallel algorithms for solving problems arising in the major areas of numerical linear algebra--direct solution of linear systems, least squares computations, eigenvalue and singular value computations, and rapid elliptic solvers, plus an extensive up-to-date bibliography (2,000 items) on related research.

The authors consider iterative methods for the solution of tridiagonal systems and present a new iteration whose rate of convergence is comparable to that of the optimal two-cyclic Chebyshev iteration but which does not require the calculation of optimal parameters. The theory has a natural extension to block tridiagonal systems. Numerical experiments suggest that on a parallel computer this new algorithm is the best of the iterative algorithms considered.

This book is primarily intended as a research monograph that could also be used in graduate courses for the design of parallel algorithms in matrix computations. It assumes general but not extensive knowledge of numerical linear algebra, parallel architectures, and parallel programming paradigms. The book consists of four parts: (I) Basics; (II) Dense and Special Matrix Computations; (III) Sparse Matrix Computations; and (IV) Matrix functions and characteristics. Part I deals with parallel programming paradigms and fundamental kernels, including reordering schemes for sparse matrices. Part II is devoted to dense matrix computations such as parallel algorithms for solving linear systems, linear least squares, the symmetric algebraic eigenvalue problem, and the singular-value decomposition. It also deals with the development of parallel algorithms for special linear systems such as banded ,Vandermonde ,Toeplitz ,and block Toeplitz systems. Part III addresses sparse matrix computations: (a) the development of parallel iterative linear system solvers with emphasis on scalable preconditioners, (b) parallel schemes for obtaining a few of the extreme eigenpairs or those contained in a given interval in the spectrum of a standard or generalized symmetric eigenvalue problem, and (c) parallel methods for computing a few of the extreme singular triplets. Part IV focuses on the development of parallel algorithms for matrix functions and special characteristics such as the matrix pseudospectrum and the determinant. The book also reviews the theoretical and practical background necessary when designing these algorithms and includes an extensive bibliography that will be useful to researchers and students alike. The book brings together many existing algorithms for the fundamental matrix computations that have a proven track record of efficient implementation in terms of data locality and data transfer on state-of-the-art systems, as well as several algorithms that are presented for the first time, focusing on the opportunities for parallelism and algorithm robustness.

Scientific computing has become an indispensable tool in numerous fields, such as physics, mechanics, biology, finance and industry. For example, it enables us, thanks to efficient algorithms adapted to current computers, to simulate, without the help of models or experimentations, the deflection of beams in bending, the sound level in a theater room or a fluid flowing around an aircraft wing. This book presents the scientific computing techniques applied to parallel computing for the numerical simulation of large-scale problems; these problems result from systems modeled by partial differential equations. Computing concepts will be tackled via examples. Implementation and programming techniques resulting from the finite element method will be presented for direct solvers, iterative solvers and domain decomposition methods, along with an introduction to MPI and OpenMP.