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phys.org is reporting that a team of South African Researchers have successfully run Simon's algorithm on a quantum computer.
Simon's algorithm, named after Daniel Simon, is a solution to Simon's Problem that is:
...designed specifically to run faster on a quantum computer than it would, on a standard computer. Its purpose is to figure out whether a black box returns a unique output for every possible input. The team ran the simplest version of the algorithm on a quantum computer that used just six qubits, and report that it took just two iterations to solve the problem, where it would take a normal computer three.
If verified it's the first unambiguous case where an algorithm designed specifically for a quantum computer has been able to demonstrate an exponential gap to the equivalent classical computer algorithm run time.
The paper detailing this experiment is available at arXiv.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Ryuugami on Wednesday November 19 2014, @07:43PM
I'm just saying specifically the being able to scale quantum stuff to useful sizes is unproven, not definitely yes like traditional computing and not definitely no like fusion reactors and flying cars
So it currently exists as a superposition of yes and no, until we observe it and determine which it is?
Sounds really fitting for a quantum computer :)
If a shit storm's on the horizon, it's good to know far enough ahead you can at least bring along an umbrella. - D.Weber