Faster inversion of square symmetric positive-definite matrices

For square, symmetric, positive-definite matrices (like covariance matrices) there is a method for faster matrix inversion that uses inversion of the Cholesky matrix. This is described here and implemented in the R package "Matrix". Here's a quick example, using the phylogenetic covariance matrix (vcv.phylo):

> require(phytools)
> # simulate tree
> tree<-pbtree(n=2000)
> C<-vcv(tree)
> # using solve
> system.time(Cinv1<-solve(C))
  user  system elapsed
 15.15    0.07   15.23
> system.time(Cinv2<-chol2inv(chol(C)))
  user  system elapsed
  6.69    0.02    6.74
> mean(abs(Cinv2-Cinv1))
[1] 3.953766e-16

That's faster.