William Kahan facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
William Morton Kahan
|
|
|---|---|
Kahan in 2008
|
|
| Born | June 5, 1933 Toronto, Ontario, Canada
|
| Alma mater | University of Toronto |
| Known for |
|
| Awards |
|
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | |
| Institutions | University of California, Berkeley |
| Thesis | Gauss–Seidel Methods of Solving Large Systems of Linear Equations (1958) |
| Doctoral advisor | Byron Alexander Griffith |
| Doctoral students |
|
William "Velvel" Morton Kahan (born June 5, 1933) is a smart Canadian mathematician and computer scientist. He is a professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. He won the famous Turing Award in 1989. This award was given for his important work in numerical analysis, which is about how computers do math.
Contents
About William Kahan
Early Life and Education
William Kahan was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on June 5, 1933. He went to the University of Toronto for his studies. There, he earned three degrees in mathematics. He got his first degree in 1954, his master's in 1956, and his Ph.D. in 1958. Today, he is a retired professor at the University of California, Berkeley. He taught both mathematics and computer sciences there.
The Father of Floating Point
Kahan is often called "The Father of Floating Point." This is because he played a huge role in creating the IEEE 754 standard. This standard is a set of rules for how computers handle numbers with decimal points. These numbers are called floating-point numbers. Thanks to his work, computers around the world calculate numbers in a consistent way. He also helped update the standard later on.
Making Computers More Accurate
In the 1980s, William Kahan created a special program called "Paranoia." This program helps test computers for mistakes when they do math with floating-point numbers. He also developed the Kahan summation algorithm. This is a clever way to add many numbers together on a computer. It helps to keep the answer very accurate and reduces tiny errors.
Kahan also came up with the idea of the "Table-maker's dilemma." This describes how hard it is to make sure math functions are perfectly rounded. This is important for things like calculators and computer programs.
Working with Hewlett-Packard
When Hewlett-Packard (HP) made their first pocket scientific calculator, the HP-35, it had some small math errors. HP worked closely with Kahan to make the calculator's math much better. He helped improve how the calculator handled complex math problems. He also helped design the math for other HP calculators, like the HP Voyager series. He even wrote parts of their instruction manuals.
Awards and Recognition
William Kahan has received many honors for his work. In 1989, he won the Turing Award, which is like the Nobel Prize for computer science. He was also named an ACM Fellow in 1994. In 2005, he was inducted into the National Academy of Engineering. These awards show how important his contributions have been to the world of computers.
See also
- Intel 8087
- In Spanish: William Kahan para niños
