Quantum Computing

>>8710329
It's a practical possibility, but it won't solve practical problems in general.

>>8710338
Adding to my own post, I mean it will not improve over a regular computer for general computing, but it can augment a general computer for its ability to solve a class of problems very quickly.

>>8710339
>it can augment a general computer for its ability to solve a class of problems very quickly
Could you expand on this?
I know how processors work, but I'm not a physicist and my understanding of quantum computing is pretty vague.

>>8710344
Think of it sort of as a GPU. With a quantum chip the programmer can now program operations that will be issued to the quantum chip by the processor. I'm not an expert on quantum computing myself, but the gist of it is that it can support doing several operations in parallel, but rather than two answers you get a probability distribution.

>>8710344
basically, qubits can essentially be in multiple states simultaneously, allowing the use of weird algorithms that can solve weird math problems more easily than rigid binary bits

>>8710353
>but rather than two answers you get a probability distribution
That sort of makes sense to me, thanks.

I read about the idea for a quantum processor years ago and the article made it seem like it would exponentially increase the processing power of a computer if it could be done, but I never really understood how a quantum bit could execute normal code if by its very nature it is "uncertain", if that makes sense...

>>8710329
There is DWave, but there's no proof that it actually does quantum computation.
There is IBM Quantum Experience with 5 qubits.
There are maybe 3 or 4 companies involved in producing hardware for Quantum Key Distribution and random number generation.
So far quantum information processing seems still mostly theoretical, even though people now consider post quantum cryptography just to be sure if there was a working quantum computer the crypto algorithms stay secure.

>>8710329
https://youtu.be/PqN_2jDVbOU your welcome the creator of quantum computers explains it nicely

>>8710329

https://www.youtube.com/user/QuantumIQC/videos

Not a bad place to start.

Stick to physics research in solid-state and nano-tech if you want more information on "practical possibilities". Math you should be familiar with is the usual for QM, linear algebra, statistics, probability, and calculus.