Supercomputers, the world's largest and fastest computers, are primarily used for complex scientific calculations. The parts of a supercomputer are comparable to those of a desktop computer: they both contain hard drives, memory, and processors (circuits that process instructions within a computer program).

Although both desktop computers and supercomputers are equipped with similar processors, their speed and memory sizes are significantly different. For instance, a desktop computer built in the year 2000 normally has a hard disk data capacity of between 2 and 20 gigabytes and one processor with tens of megabytes of random access memory (RAM)—just enough to perform tasks such as word processing, web browsing, and video gaming. Meanwhile, a supercomputer of the same time period has thousands of processors, hundreds of gigabytes of RAM, and hard drives that allow for hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of gigabytes of storage space.

The supercomputer's large number...