UNSPECIFIED (1995) COMPUTATIONAL SIMILARITY. CONCURRENCY-PRACTICE AND EXPERIENCE, 7 (2). pp. 147-166. ISSN 1040-3108

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Abstract

The paper enunciates the principle of computational similarity, whereby calculations with the same values for certain dimensionless ratios are said to be 'computationally similar' and as a consequence have the same optimum self-speed-up and optimum number of processors. Based on a three-parameter description of the computer hardware, two dimensionless ratios, which are only a function of the problem size and the hardware parameters, completely determine the scaling. Contours of constant self-speed-up can be drawn on a two-dimensional dimensionless universal scaling diagram (DUSD). This diagram is for a particular class of timing expressions that can be shown to represent approximately the performance of a corresponding class of computer programs or benchmarks, but it applies to all computers describable by the three hardware parameters and to all problem sizes. Thus the dimensionless ratios play a similar role in the study of computer performance, as do the Reynolds and other dimensionless numbers in fluid dynamics. This dimensional analysis of computer performance is illustrated by the case of the FFT1 benchmark from the Southampton 'Genesis' distributed-memory benchmarks.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	Q Science > QA Mathematics > QA76 Electronic computers. Computer science. Computer software
Journal or Publication Title:	CONCURRENCY-PRACTICE AND EXPERIENCE
Publisher:	JOHN WILEY & SONS LTD
ISSN:	1040-3108
Date:	April 1995
Volume:	7
Number:	2
Number of Pages:	20
Page Range:	pp. 147-166
Publication Status:	Published
URI:	http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/19951

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