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Old 01-13-2018, 12:48 PM  
Grapesoda
So Fucking Banned
 
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Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Montana
Posts: 46,150
Quote:
Originally Posted by GFED View Post
How fast could one mine?
Hmmm...
and this....

A common misunderstanding is that quantum computers would ?try all solutions at once,? since qubits can be in a superposition state where they simultaneously represent a zero and a one, but this isn?t really right. When we measure a qubit it ?collapses? into a single definite state, so the trick to quantum computing algorithms like Shor?s is to arrange the qubits so that while in their superposition state they interfere with one another, and more specifically, so that the right answer constructively interfere and the wrong answers destructively interfere, so when the measurement is made at the end there is a high probability of them collapsing into the right answer.

This is fundamentally different than anything a classical computer can do because in order to simulate those quantum superpositions and the way they interfere with one another (due to entanglement) requires too many numbers for a classical computer to store. Each additional qubit requires doubling the number of numbers you have to keep track of, so it quickly becomes intractable.

(2, 100, 2100 is already too many numbers for the whole universe, from a classical perspective, the ?magic? of quantum mechanics is that, in some sense, it can hold that many numbers with just 100 qubits. But without the proper careful arrangement and manipulation, they won't give a useful result, they'll just be random.)
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