How will Quantum Computing impact on you?

Quantum computing is a new type of computing that uses principles of quantum mechanics.

Dealing with some problems on your regular computer can demand an insane amount of computing power. For instance, in some graphic processing tasks, moving from 10 million to 1 billion points doesn't just need 100 times more power, but a whopping 10,000 times! Here's where quantum computing comes in. It uses concepts from quantum mechanics (like Superposition Principle, The Born Rule, Entanglement and Reversibility) to do calculations and data operations differently. This means it uses resources in a different way too. A cool example is using Grover's algorithm on a quantum computer to find a specific record among N unsorted entries. It can do this with √N searches, while a regular computer would need N/2 searches. In other words, a quantum computer needs way less resources for such tasks. And because regular computers can't mimic quantum mechanics properties, there are some problems that only a quantum computer can solve, like the boson-sample problem.

So, what's the best use for quantum computers? We're still figuring that out, but here are some promising areas:
• Simulating natural processes like quantum chemistry and material science. This could be handy in areas like drug discovery and financial option pricing.
• Using quantum algorithms to optimise stuff like city traffic routing and managing portfolio risks.
• Finding patterns in data to train Machine Learning models, which could speed up the use of AI technologies.
• Quantum computing could be the end of current PKC encryption, but it might also be used to create stronger encryption methods.

Sounds cool? However, practical quantum computing is still in its early stages.