Solution method used for Scipy solve_banded matrix

Question

Does anyone know what method scipy.linalg.solve_banded uses to solve the system of equations? The documentation does not state the solution method used by the function. Usually the Thomas algorithm, a.k.a. TDMA, is used for these types of systems but I was wondering if this Scipy function uses some other solution method.

Answer 1

The Github code shows that scipy uses the lapack routine gbsv() to solve this. You can read about gbsv() here and here.

I am not sure if this the same as the Thomas algorithm. Looks like both use LU decomposition, though.