Linpack Benchmarks

Linpack Benchmarks are measures that rank the computers as per their floating point computer power. Introduced by Jack Dongarra, they measure how fast a computer solves a dense n by n system of linear equations Ax = b, which is a common task in engineering. In the above note, IBM Sequoia tested at 16.32 petaflop/s, compared to K Computer’s 10.51 petaflop/s.The Linpack Benchmark gives each computer a petaflop/s score (quadrillion floating-point operations per second). IBM said that Sequoia was capable of calculating in one hour what otherwise would have taken 6.7 billion people using hand calculators 320 years to complete if they had worked non-stop.