Q:

RPi Cluster for Materials Research

I'm Materials Science student interested in using an RPi cluster for calculations of materials properties. 
I'm very new to HPC but what I know about the RPI is that its processor is based on the ARM architecture which was initially intended for control and now we see this architecture on phone processors, but I don't know the limits I can push this type of cluster to, with heavy calculations. I also know that they will function as a means to devide the calculations in threads with the propiate parallel programing so I will not ask if they work as a single virtual machine, I understand it doesn't. 
My question is if the RPi cluster performance ratio, while stacking, does keep increasing for heavy math calculations or any physics calculations; or if there is a point where the performance curve gets steady.
If anyone have used a RPi's clusters for Physics, Math or Chemistry calculations, how does it performs?
Thanks in advance.

A:

If you're interested in learning the basics of how the RPi functions and how to do such tasks, the RPi is a great tool.
That being said, an RPi cluster has no chance in hell at defeating even a moderately recent i5 processor. Your laptop will probably serve you better than an RPi cluster for heavy computations. 

