ur methods are applicable to general loosely synchronous problems and indeed can be applied to arbitrary problem classes. However, we will choose a particular finite-element problem to illustrate the issues where one needs to distribute a mesh, such as that illustrated in Figure 11.2. Each triangle or element represents a task which communicates with its neighboring three triangles. In doing, for example, a simulation of fluid flow on the mesh, each element of the mesh communicates regularly with its neighbors, and this pattern may be repeated thousands of times.