David William Matula (born 1937) is an American mathematician and computer scientist known for his research on

graph theory In mathematics, graph theory is the study of ''graphs'', which are mathematical structures used to model pairwise relations between objects. A graph in this context is made up of '' vertices'' (also called ''nodes'' or ''points'') which are conne ...

graph algorithm The following is a list of well-known algorithms along with one-line descriptions for each. Automated planning Combinatorial algorithms General combinatorial algorithms * Brent's algorithm: finds a cycle in function value iterations using on ...

computer arithmetic In computing, an arithmetic logic unit (ALU) is a combinational digital circuit that performs arithmetic and bitwise operations on integer binary numbers. This is in contrast to a floating-point unit (FPU), which operates on floating point numb ...

, and

algorithm engineering Algorithm engineering focuses on the design, analysis, implementation, optimization, profiling and experimental evaluation of computer algorithms, bridging the gap between algorithm theory and practical applications of algorithms in software enginee ...

. He is a

professor emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

Southern Methodist University , mottoeng = "The truth will make you free" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = SACS , academic_affiliations = , religious_affiliation = United Methodist Church , president = R. Gerald Turner , prov ...

, where he formerly held the Cruse C. and Marjorie F. Calahan Centennial Chair in Engineering.

Education and career

Matula was an undergraduate at

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...

, graduating in 1959. He completed his Ph.D. in 1966 at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, with the dissertation ''Games of Sequence Prediction'' supervised by

David Blackwell David Harold Blackwell (April 24, 1919 – July 8, 2010) was an American statistician and mathematician who made significant contributions to game theory, probability theory, information theory, and statistics. He is one of the eponyms of the ...

. After completing his Ph.D., he returned to Washington University in St. Louis as a faculty member. He joined the Southern Methodist University faculty in 1974 as chair of the Computer Science and Engineering Department, was named to the Cruse C. and Marjorie F. Calahan Centennial Chair in Engineering in 2016, and retired in 2018.

Book

Matula is the coauthor, with Peter Kornerup, of the book ''Finite Precision Number Systems and Arithmetic'' (Encyclopedia of Mathematics and its Applications 133, Cambridge University Press, 2010).

References

External links

Home page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matula, David 1937 births Living people 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians Graph theorists American computer scientists Washington University in St. Louis alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni Washington University in St. Louis faculty Southern Methodist University faculty