mathematics

Sherry Li

Sherry Li is a mathematics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Sherry Li rather than just read about it. In short: Xiaoye Sherry Li is a researcher in numerical methods at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where she works as a senior scientist. She is responsible there for the SuperLU package, a high-performance parallel system for solving sparse systems of linear equations by using their LU decomposition.

Key takeaways

Sherry Li belongs to mathematics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Sherry Li to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Sherry Li from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Xiaoye Sherry Li is a researcher in numerical methods at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where she works as a senior scientist. She is responsible there for the SuperLU package, a high-performance parallel system for solving sparse systems of linear equations by using their LU decomposition. At the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, she heads the Scalable Solvers Group.

Education Li graduated from Tsinghua University in 1986, with a bachelor's degree in computer science. She moved to the United States for graduate study, earning a master's degree from Pennsylvania State University in 1990 and a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley in 1996. Her doctoral dissertation, Sparse Gaussian Elimination on High Performance Computers, was supervised by James Demmel.

Recognition In 2016, she was elected as a SIAM Fellow "for advances in the development of fast and scalable sparse matrix algorithms and fostering their use in large-scale scientific and engineering applications". With Piyush Sao and Richard Vuduc she was awarded the 2022 SIAM Activity Group on Supercomputing Best Paper Prize.

References

External links Home page Sherry Li publications indexed by Google Scholar

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Sherry Li

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Sherry Li claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In mathematics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Sherry Li before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Sherry Li ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Sherry Li

In research: Sherry Li appears in mathematics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Sherry Li in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Sherry Li is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 20th-century American mathematicians, 20th-century American women mathematicians, 21st-century American mathematicians, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Sherry Li outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Sherry Li in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Sherry Li means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Sherry Li out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Sherry Li in simple terms?

Why does Sherry Li matter?

Because it connects several mathematics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Sherry Li?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Sherry Li.