17/01/2017
QUANTUM COMPUTING IS REAL, AND D-WAVE JUST OPEN-SOURCED IT
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AUTHOR: KLINT FINLEY. KLINT FINLEY BUSINESS DATE OF PUBLICATION: 01.11.17.
01.11.17
TIME OF PUBLICATION: 1:00 PM.
1:00 PM
QUANTUM COMPUTING IS REAL, AND D-WAVE JUST OPEN-SOURCED IT
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QUANTUM COMPUTING IS real. But it’s also hard. So hard that only a few developers, usually trained in quantum physics, advanced mathematics, or most likely both, can actually work with the few quantum computers that exist. Now D-Wave, the Canadian company behind the quantum computer that Google and NASA have been testing since 2013, wants to make quantum computing a bit easier through the power of open source software.
Traditional computers store information in “bits,” which can represent either a “1” or a “0.” Quantum computing takes advantage of quantum particles in a strange state called “superposition,” meaning that the particle is spinning in two directions at once. Researchers have learned to take advantage of these particles to create what they call “qubits,” which can represent both a 1 and a 0 at the same time. By stringing qubits together, companies like D-Wave hope to create computers that are exponentially faster than today’s machines.
