What is quantum computing and how can it change the world of technology

Quantitative computing may seem a kind of a science fiction conspiracy device used to explain how the character has been transferred over time or shrink to the ant size. But technology is very real, and the silicon valley is increasingly jumped on the quantum train.

Amazon (Amzn), Google (Google, Googl) and Microsoft (MSFT) have announced their quantum computing chips over the past few months. NVIDIA (NVDA) is preparing to host its first day ever as part of the annual GTC developer conference on March 20. IBM (IBM), Intel (INTC), and a large group of companies that focus on their quantum also their chips.

It is expected that the quantum computers are able to complete the accounts in minutes and hours that will take classic computers, the type I use every day, thousands of years until they are finished. What does this mean in the practical sense? The possibility of huge developments in the science of materials, chemistry, medicine and more. After all, scientists and researchers will be able to manage accounts that they only could dream of computers today.

But what exactly is a quantum computer, and what makes it very special? We have the answers you are looking for.

To better understand quantum computers, let’s talk about classic computers first. The laptop, the smartphone, and even your smart watch contains processors known as the CPU (CPU). These are the brains of modern computers.

Each CPU has the so -called transistors. Think of the transistors because a little switches inside your computer interact with an electrical signal. You have heard the chips of the number billions of transistors of their chips. Apple talks about 28 billion transistors on their M4 chips for Mac and iPad, while NVIDIA says Blackweell chips have 208 billion transistors.

Central processing units translate the applications and programs that you use every day through these electrical impulses using what is known as the binary code, which is a type of machinery that consists of 1S and 0S. Every 1 and 0 is called a little.

The chain chains of the complex chain are the guidelines that are translated after passing through modern programming languages ​​to the videos and pictures that you see on your screen, the games you play and the applications that you use throughout the day of working.

A series of electrical impulses can travel through chip transistors, creating different 1s and 0s along the way. The slide will then explain these signals to reach your computer’s memory or store. As orders increase in complexity, they are able to explain everything from criticizing your finger on your phone screen to what to do when clicking on a link on the website.

These bilateral systems are used throughout computing, whether it is a home computer, medical equipment, cars, or any other part of the technology that requires the CPU.

However, computers use quantum uniforms known as quantum bits, or Qubits, instead of classic bits. This is a completely different way to store and process data. Instead of being as one or 0 like a little, Qubits can exist as one and 0 or any mixture of the two at the same time, thanks to the so -called overlap.

“Think of Qubit as Kahle”, Oscar Pinter, the director of quantum tools at Amazon Web Services. “There is the Arctic and South Pole, and it can be any mixture of 0 and 1 at the same time.”

To make things strange, scientists do not actually know whether Qubit is 1 or 0 until they notice them.

“In the quantum world, the same system can be simultaneously in several different states,” said Professor of Applied Physics in the Applied Physics of Yahoo Finance. “And until we measure, we really don’t know, exactly what it is.”

This allows the ability to exist as one and 0 so -called parallel treatment, which allows quantum computers to solve accounts much faster than classic computers.

There are multiple ways to treat Qubits, whether through high -delivery systems that reduce the temperature around Qubits to absolute scratch, using the laser to interact with atoms, or take advantage of light molecules – photons – in a severe vacuum.

Those giant and golden machines, octopus that you see and often referred to as quantum computers? They are largely cooling systems that work with the highly connected Qubits to ensure that they are cold enough to work properly.

What’s more, quantum computers are not present. They connect to traditional computers, which control how the quantum system interacts with Qubit and provides a reading of its performance.

Therefore, quantum computers can use Qobits overlap to process accounts at an incredibly fast speed compared to classic computers. So why don’t we use them to solve the most complex problems in the world yet? Because of the quantum errors.

“[Qubits] “Very fragile, you cannot have 0 and 1 at the same time if it interacts with the environment,” said SRIDHAR Tayur, Professor of Operations Management at Tepper Business College at the University of Carnegie Mellon.

See, because Qubits is on a small scale, it is incredibly vulnerable to overlapping from the outside world. This means that one atom can get rid of Qubit, causing information loss – that 1 and 0.

According to the painter, quantum systems can have a mistake every 300 quantitative operations. In order for the computer to be useful, although it can only display the error of every trillion. This is a dramatic difference.

To address this, companies use what is known as quantum error correction. Microsoft, Google and Amazon focused on this with its latest chips. The idea behind the quantitative error correction is to use Qubits in excess of need.

“If you want to protect Quite one of the information, I really need to repeat it 1000 times in order to get one commodity, what we call Qubit logical,” a painter said.

But this deals with a large amount of resources. Researchers work to address the problem, but so that they can, the quantum computers will not be reliable enough to use them in calculations related to chemistry, to help discover new vehicles, or to understand how the atoms interact with each other.

While quantum computers are useful to run certain algorithms and solve incredibly complex problems, they will not replace classic giant computers even after researchers can overcome the problem with quantum errors.

This is because they are not supposed to do things like running your favorite applications faster than your smartphone. What’s more, there is no simply reason to use a quantum computer for such a task when classic computers are designed to deal exactly.

In other words, do not expect to go home, run a personal quantitative computer, and start the Netflix stream. Your Roku can handle it well on its own.

Send an email to Daniel Holie on Dhowley@yahoofinance.com. Follow it on Twitter on Danielhowley.

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