Title:  A Gentle Introduction to the Kaczmarz Algorithm

Abstract: The Kaczmarz Algorithm is a method for solving systems of linear equations that was published by Polish mathematician Stefan Kaczmarz in 1939.  It has remarkable properties as a numerical algorithm, which we'll introduce, including the ability to solve a system of equations without being able to access all of the equations.  For example, it can be used to solve a system of equations in a distributed environment.  We'll discuss in detail this particular application of the method.