Description

FMStm (Fast Matrix Solver) is the industry standard for performing matrix algebra operations on large, dense matrices and groups of vectors. Packaged as a FORTRAN or C callable library, FMS may be incorporated into new or existing scientific and engineering application programs to improve performance and provide large problem solving capability.

The primary function of FMS is to solve the system of simultaneous equations

[A]{X} = {B}

where

• [A] is an N-by-N coefficient matrix,
  
  
• {B} is one or more right-hand side vectors, and
  
  
• {X} represents the solution vectors to be determined.

FMS is actually 3 out-of-core solvers in 1:

	PROFILE SOLVER: Accounts for the sparsity of matrix [A] on an equation by equation basis. Typical applications include finite element and finite difference programs.
	BLOCK SOLVER: Divides the matrix [A] into square blocks, accounting for sparsity on a block by block basis. This solver uses industry standard BLAS3 kernels and provides excellent I/O performance on extremely large problems. Typical applications include boundary integral and moment method programs.
	SLAB SOLVER: Extends the functionality of the Block Solver by providing full column partial pivoting for full nonsymmetric matrices.

Because all 3 FMS solvers share the same application program interface, you may switch between solvers by simply changing an environment variable, without recompiling or relinking your program.