Appendix A:
Linear Solvers Basics
Appendix A:
Linear Solvers BasicsMany applications in science and engineering require the solution of a system of linear equations. This problem is usually expressed mathematically by the matrix-vector equation,
, where
matrix,
Ax
=
b
A
is an
m
-by-n
x
is the
n
element column vector and
b
is the
m
element column vector. The matrix
A
is usually referred to as the coefficient matrix, and the vectors
x
and
b
are referred to as the solution vector and the right-hand side, respectively.
Basic concepts related to solving linear systems with sparse matrices are described in
Sparse Linear Systems and various storage schemes for sparse matrices are described in
Sparse Matrix Storage Formats.