Final answer:
Distributed computing involves resource sharing and fault tolerance to ensure reliability and manage complex tasks, exemplified by advanced supercomputers and technologies that facilitate cheaper and faster data transmission.
Step-by-step explanation:
Distributed computing is a field of computer science that involves resource sharing across a network of computers and fault tolerance to ensure system reliability and uptime. Supercomputers like those at NASA's Ames Research Center, which are capable of tracking the motions of more than a million objects under their mutual gravitation, exemplify modern computing power and the advances in distributed systems that combine resources for complex computational tasks. Additionally, distributed computing contributes to cheaper, faster, and better-quality data transmission, enabling technologies such as cloud storage, e-conferencing solutions like Slack and Zoom, and spin-off technologies like free Internet-based calling.