AMDAHL'S LAW

AZIZULLAH(P146111)

DEFINITION - WHAT DOESAMDAHL'S LAWMEAN?
AMDAHLS LAW IS A FORMULA USED TO FIND THE MAXIMUM IMPROVEMENT
IMPROVEMENT POSSIBLE BY IMPROVING A PARTICULAR PART OF A SYSTEM. IN
PARALLEL COMPUTING, AMDAHL'S LAW IS MAINLY USED TO PREDICT THE
THEORETICAL MAXIMUM SPEEDUP FOR PROGRAM PROCESSING USING
MULTIPLE PROCESSORS. IT IS NAMED AFTER GENE AMDAHL, A COMPUTER
ARCHITECT FROM IBM AND THE AMDAHL CORPORATION.
 AMDAHLS LAW STATES THAT IN PARALLELIZATION, IF P IS THE PROPORTION OF A SYSTEM OR
PROGRAM THAT CAN BE MADE PARALLEL, AND 1-P IS THE PROPORTION THAT REMAINS SERIAL,
THEN THE MAXIMUM SPEEDUP THAT CAN BE ACHIEVED USING N NUMBER OF PROCESSORS IS 1/
((1-P)+(P/N OR S ).

SLATENCYIS THE THEORETICAL SPEEDUP OF THE EXECUTION OF THE WHOLE TASK;

SIS THE SPEEDUP OF THE PART OF THE TASK THAT BENEFITS FROM IMPROVED SYSTEM
RESOURCES;
PIS THE PROPORTION OF EXECUTION TIME THAT THE PART BENEFITING FROM IMPROVED
RESOURCES ORIGINALLY OCCUPIED.
 INCOMPUTER ARCHITECTURE,AMDAHL'S LAW(ORAMDAHL'S
ARGUMENT[1]) IS A FORMULA WHICH GIVES THE THEORETICALSPEEDUPIN
LATENCYOF THE EXECUTION OF A TASK AT FIXEDWORKLOADTHAT CAN BE
EXPECTED OF A SYSTEM WHOSE RESOURCES ARE IMPROVED. IT IS NAMED
AFTER COMPUTER SCIENTISTGENE AMDAHL, AND WAS PRESENTED AT THE
AFIPSSPRING JOINT COMPUTER CONFERENCE IN 1967.
 EXAMPLE

IF A PROGRAM CURRENTLY TAKES 100 SECONDS TO EXECUTE AND LOADS

AND STORES ACCOUNT FOR 20% OF THE EXECUTION TIMES, HOW LONG
WILL THE PROGRAM TAKE IF LOADS AND STORES ARE MADE 30% FASTER?
FOR THIS, YOU CAN USE AMDAHL'S LAW OR YOU CAN REASON IT OUT STEP
BY STEP. DOING IT STEP BY STEP GIVES (1) BEFORE THE IMPROVEMENT
LOADS TAKE 20 SECONDS (2) IF LOADS AND STORES ARE MADE 30 PERCENT
FASTER THEY WILL TAKE 20/1.3 = 15.385 SECONDS, WHICH CORRESPONDS
TO 4.615 SECONDS LESS. (3) THUS, THE FINAL PROGRAM WILL TAKE 100 -
4.615 = 95.38