Question

Which of the following is an example of a supercomputer?
1. 3com palmV
2. Sun Ultra
3. IBM Deep Blue
4. Digital Alpha

Answer 1

Correct Answer - Option 3 : IBM Deep Blue

Explanation:

• A supercomputer is a computer with a high level of performance as compared to a general-purpose computer.
• They have been used for scientific and engineering applications that require handling of very large databases and require a great amount of computation.
• Supercomputers perform multiple parallel processing.

IBM Deep Blue is an example of supercomputer.

• Deep Blue was a chess computer developed by IBM. It is famous for defeating the chess world champion, GM Garry Kasparov, in their 1997 match. Deep Blue's victory was viewed as a symbolic testament to the rise of artificial intelligence—a victory for machine versus man.
• The Deep Blue project (initially called ChipTest) was created by Feng-hsiung Hsu in 1985. In 1989 Hsu and other colleagues joined the IBM team to fully develop Deep Blue. An early version of Deep Blue played a match against GM Joel Benjamin, who joined the Deep Blue team as a GM consultant afterward.
• By the time of the 1997 match, Deep Blue's alpha-beta search algorithm (the same type of search that is still used by many conventional computer engines today) along with its custom hardware allowed it to consider up to 200 million positions per second. Deep Blue was dismantled after the 1997 victory, with one of its two racks being displayed at the National Museum of American History and the other at the Computer History Museum.