Explained: Quantum Computing

Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Scott Aaronson explains quantum computing.

Video: Emily Heusted

[YummyLava]

possibility of building quantum computers? that's weird... google is using a quantum computer for years on image search. a d-wave one costs about 10m but i guess it can be rented :)

On Tuesday, December 8, 2009 at the Neural Information Processing Systems (NIPS) conference, a Google research team led by Hartmut Neven used D-Wave's processor to train a binary image classifier.

On May 25, 2011, Lockheed Martin signed a multi-year contract with D-Wave Systems to realize the benefits based upon a quantum annealing processor applied to some of Lockheed's most challenging computation problems. The contract also includes maintenance, associated professional services, and the purchase of the D-Wave One Quantum Computer System.

In August 2012, a team of Harvard University researchers presented results of the largest protein folding problem solved to date using a quantum computer. The researchers solved instances of a lattice protein folding model, known as the Miyazawa-Jernigan model, on a D-Wave One quantum computer.

[smartypantsscrewdriver]

I... don't understand what schrodinger's wave Equation have to do with QUantum Computers.
Dammit. Have to study hard >.<

[rishika-n]

ok I'm a business student and got no clue what quantum computing is. Is there any genius here who can just tell me how exactly is this different from regular computers?

[rachenputzer]

Is this computer able to crack unsolved mathematical problems?

[Zalntar]

Ни чё не понял, как будто не по русски говорит.

[shadowslayer]

Sorry for being "that guy", but you're wrong about always knowing if a bit is 1 or 0. In data transfer, like a bus or a cable, the bits are generally 0v or 5v, meaning you're sending a 0 or a 1. But if you send 3v or 2v then that doesn't exactly mean anything.