PNAS: How did SIAM help you envision how to better promote these applications? My first book was about the mathematical foundations of finite elements ( 2). That opened my eyes, and I realized that the world of mathematical applications was exciting. The finite element method is used all of the time now in solid and fluid mechanics, to design airplanes, and to model the heart.
In the early 1970s, engineers and scientists were writing huge software packages using the finite element method to solve structural problems, computing forces and stresses.
It was a new way to solve differential equations using simple trial functions. Strang: The finite element method of solving partial differential equations. PNAS: What discovery spurred your interest in applied mathematics? Linear algebra is very often the right language, and it deals well with the structure it finds. The goal is to find structure: we need a language that can manipulate and make sense of the information. Magnetic resonance scans produce millions of images microarrays span entire genomes the Internet is an enormous graph. Strang: From the life sciences to engineering and information networks, scientists are generating inconceivable amounts of data. Where does linear algebra fit in, and why is it considered indispensable?
Strang recently spoke with PNAS about the importance of linear algebra for today’s research, as well as his recent work on the matrices used in signal processing, a branch of mathematics used to construct tools as diverse as MRI scanners, music synthesizers, and speech-to-text converters. A former president of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM), author of several textbooks ( 2 – 9), and 2009 electee to the National Academy of Sciences, Strang wrote the book on linear algebra-and his text has changed how the material is taught. Millions of students from the Americas, Africa, China, Europe, India, and Singapore have watched Strang’s lectures on linear algebra courtesy of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)’s OpenCourseWare Web site ( 1), and many have e-mailed him to ask for one-on-one help. Of the world’s mathematicians, Gilbert Strang is possibly the most visible-or at least among the most frequently viewed.
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