Numerical linear algebra is the study of algorithms for performing linear algebra computations, most notably matrix operations, on computers. It is often a fundamental part of engineering and computational science problems, such as image and signal processing, telecommunication, computational finance, materials science simulations, structural biology, data mining, and bioinformatics, fluid dynamics, and many other areas. Such software relies heavily on the development, analysis, and implementation of state-of-the-art algorithms for solving various numerical linear algebra problems, in large part because of the role of matrices in finite difference and finite element methods.
Common problems in numerical linear algebra include computing the following: LU decomposition, QR decomposition, Singular value decomposition, eigenvalues.
Famous quotes containing the words numerical and/or algebra:
“The terrible tabulation of the French statists brings every piece of whim and humor to be reducible also to exact numerical ratios. If one man in twenty thousand, or in thirty thousand, eats shoes, or marries his grandmother, then, in every twenty thousand, or thirty thousand, is found one man who eats shoes, or marries his grandmother.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Poetry has become the higher algebra of metaphors.”
—José Ortega Y Gasset (1883–1955)