Cyclic Reduction – History and Applications

We discuss the method of Cyclic Reduction for solving special systems of linear equations that arise when discretizing partial differential equations. In connection with parallel computations the method has become very important. This paper has been published in the Proceedings of the Workshop on Scientific Computing : 10-12 March, 1997, Hong Kong, editor-in-chief, Gene Howard Golub ; managing editor, Shiu Hong Liu ; editors, Franklin T. Luk, Robert James Plemmons. Springer Verlag, New York, 1997.