Can someone please explain what quantum computing is and why or how much more powerful it could be than regular computers? What's the difference? I just read an article on CNN about it and I have no clue why it's such a big deal.
ok mybe i'm slow today, but i tried to read that before and frankly my head is still spinning. Can someone break it down to layman's terms?
According to my calculations...A quantum computer is any device for computation that makes direct use of distinctively quantum mechanical phenomena, such as superposition and entanglement, to perform operations on data.... Oh wait...
Essentially you need a Physics PhD to really understand it. In my partial understanding it relies on the freaky nature of things on the quantum level. On a normal computer a bit can only be in one of the available states. Your bit can be on, or off; 1 or 0. In quantum mechanics things can be in superposition. The quantum bit can be both on and off at the same time. So with traditional 'on/off bits' when you solve a problem you have to check every answer sequentially. If you want to find the numbers under 100 that are divisable by seven you check in order. Is '1' divisable by seven? No. Is '2'? No... and so on. Because of superposition, you effectively end up checking all answers in parallell. All possible states are checked in one operation, and only those that work come out. Exactly how this works in practice, I have no idea but that is my understanding of the basic theory behind it.
The idea is that the computer can check every possibility at the same time, that way you get the answer instantaneously. In theory, that makes quantum computing basically infinitely more powerful than modern computing.
Quantum computing?? Based on that thread title, it looks like you haven't mastered the fine art of punctuation.
lol. Now you know why I have difficulty going through wiki. Thanks for the layman explanation Otto, that's pretty much what I wanted to know.
You don't need a PhD in physics to understand it. I don't have one (yet) and I understand it. Its simple quantum mechanics. Of course, like you, I have no idea how this would work in practice.
Scrodinger's Cat asked me, "Does a quantum computer not work when observed?" (Am I mixing up my theories?)
