Floating Point Numbers Aren't Real

We learn about arithmetic as children and carry with us assumptions about how numbers work. Unfortunately, when you move to a computer, some of those assumptions break down. In this workshop, we will explore the ways computer arithmetic fails us and what you can do about it. Frankly, this is one of the most important workshops you can take since this topic (Numerical Analysis) is rarely taught anymore. As the father of floating-point arithmetic (William Kahan) puts it … "Computer Science has changed over my lifetime. Numerical Analysis seems to have turned into a sliver under the fingernails of computer scientists". Slivers or not, you need to understand how computer arithmetic can fail you and maybe, if you try real hard, avoid writing programs that result in death, mayhem, and financial disasters.

Meet the Facilitator

Tim Mattson a parallel programmer obsessed with every variety of science. In 2023 he retired after a 45-year career in HPC (30 of which were with Intel). He has had the privilege of working with people much smarter than himself on great projects including: (1) the first TFLOP computer (ASCI Red), (2) Parallel programming languages … Linda, MPI, OpenMP, OpenCL, OCR and PyOMP (3) two different research processors (Intel's TFLOP chip and the 48 core SCC), (4) Data management systems (Polystore systems and Array-based storage engines), and (5) the GraphBLAS API for expressing graph algorithms as sparse linear algebra. Tim has over 150 publications including six books on different aspects of parallel computing.

More Workshops by Tim Mattson

- Introduction to Parallel Programming with OpenMP Pioneer Tim Mattson on 1/15
- A.I. and the Future of Programming on 1/16 at 10:30 AM

See the entire PICSciE/RC Wintersession 2025 training program.

To request accommodations for this event, please contact the workshop or event facilitator at least 3 working days prior to the event.

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Co-hosted with: PICSciE/Research Computing

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