Quantum Computing Algorithms

Abstract

Abstract Alice and Bob introduce and explain in detail some of the algorithms that convinced physicists and computer scientists that there might be something to this crazy idea of quantum computing. Each algorithm provides a case study of how the properties of quantum states can be used to provide an advantage for using a quantum computer compared to a classical computer. Alice and Bob describe the Deutsch algorithm, designed to answer a simple question about the properties of functions of binary digits (0 and 1), and the Simon algorithm, which finds a “secret code.” The Simon algorithm, like many other quantum algorithms, is a mix of quantum state algorithms and classical computational methods. Alice and Bob also introduce Hadamard gates that act on multi-qubit systems. Those gates play an important role in many quantum algorithms.