Abstract (Per Christian Hansen)

In the talk I will first briefly describe parallel computers and some of the difficulties that one is faced with when designing parallel algorithms: communication, load balancing, etc.

Next, I will touch upon the numerical difficulties encountered in connection with parallel computing. For example, it may be necessary to use less stable numerical algorithms -- compared to traditional algorithms for sequential computers -- in order to achieve optimal parallel performance.

Finally, I will illustrate the above difficulties by means of two parallel algorithms in numerical linear algebra: solution of linear systems of equations, and computation of the singular value decomposition.


Last modified: April 12, 1995.
Kim Skak Larsen (kslarsen@imada.sdu.dk)