Tridiagonal matrix algorithm
Algoritmo para matrices tridiagonales
- Date
- c. 1949 · confidence low
- Place
- Los Alamos, New Mexico, United States
- Credited to
- Llewellyn Thomas
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A simplified form of Gaussian elimination for efficiently solving tridiagonal systems of equations, known as the Thomas algorithm and widely used in numerical analysis.
Source data attributes the algorithm to Israel Gelfand and a second, unidentified person (1922-1990); the method's common name refers to physicist Llewellyn Thomas, so the exact authorship and date are uncertain.
What it led to
- became a standard tool for solving discretized differential equations
- accelerated numerical simulations in engineering and computational physics
- was integrated into numerical linear algebra libraries