Book Image

Quantum Computing Algorithms

By : Barry Burd
5 (1)
Book Image

Quantum Computing Algorithms

5 (1)
By: Barry Burd

Overview of this book

Navigate the quantum computing spectrum with this book, bridging the gap between abstract, math-heavy texts and math-avoidant beginner guides. Unlike intermediate-level books that often leave gaps in comprehension, this all-encompassing guide offers the missing links you need to truly understand the subject. Balancing intuition and rigor, this book empowers you to become a master of quantum algorithms. No longer confined to canned examples, you'll acquire the skills necessary to craft your own quantum code. Quantum Computing Algorithms is organized into four sections to build your expertise progressively. The first section lays the foundation with essential quantum concepts, ensuring that you grasp qubits, their representation, and their transformations. Moving to quantum algorithms, the second section focuses on pivotal algorithms — specifically, quantum key distribution and teleportation. The third section demonstrates the transformative power of algorithms that outpace classical computation and makes way for the fourth section, helping you to expand your horizons by exploring alternative quantum computing models. By the end of this book, quantum algorithms will cease to be mystifying as you make this knowledge your asset and enter a new era of computation, where you have the power to shape the code of reality.
Table of Contents (19 chapters)
Free Chapter
2
Part 1 Nuts and Bolts
7
Part 2 Making Qubits Work for You
10
Part 3 Quantum Computing Algorithms
14
Part 4 Beyond Gate-Based Quantum Computing

A popular encryption scheme

In August 1977, three researchers wrote an article for a mathematical curiosities column in the Scientific American magazine [2]. The article described what has come to be known as RSA encryption, so named after its originators—Rivest, Shamir, and Adelman. The idea behind RSA is that multiplying numbers is easy, but factoring numbers is difficult. In Figure 9.1, we get a 100-digit number by multiplying two 50-digit numbers:

Figure 9.1 – The RSA-100 number

Figure 9.1 – The RSA-100 number

When I presented this multiplication problem to my laptop computer, I got the answer almost instantly. Multiplying two numbers, however large they may be, isn’t challenging for today’s hardware.

But what if we try to solve the problem in reverse? What if we start with the 100-digit number at the bottom of Figure 9.1, and ask a computer to find the two 50-digit numbers at the top of the figure? When I handed this task to a respected mathematics...