<computer> A broad term for one of the fastest computers
currently available. Such computers are typically used for
number crunching including scientific simulations,
(animated) graphics, analysis of geological data (e.g. in
petrochemical prospecting), structural analysis, computational
fluid dynamics, physics, chemistry, electronic design, nuclear
energy research and meteorology. Perhaps the best known
supercomputer manufacturer is Cray Research.

A less serious definition, reported from about 1990 at The
University Of New South Wales states that a supercomputer is
any computer that can outperform IBM's current fastest, thus
making it impossible for IBM to ever produce a supercomputer.

(1996-12-13)