supercomputer

computer A broad term for one of the fastest computers

currently available. Such computers are typically used for

number crunching including scientific simulations,

(animated) graphics, analysis of geological data (e.g. in

petrochemical prospecting), structural analysis, computational

fluid dynamics, physics, chemistry, electronic design, nuclear

energy research and meteorology. Perhaps the best known

supercomputer manufacturer is Cray Research.

A less serious definition, reported from about 1990 at The

University Of New South Wales states that a supercomputer is

any computer that can outperform IBM's current fastest, thus

making it impossible for IBM to ever produce a supercomputer.

(1996-12-13)