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3 - Understanding Computation

from Part 01 - Quantum Technologies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 November 2021

Chris Jay Hoofnagle  and
Simson L. Garfinkel
Chris Jay Hoofnagle
Affiliation:
University of California, Berkeley
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Summary

This chapter discusses key questions to provide a foundation for understanding why quantum computers are different from classical computation: What is computation? How is computation different from calculation? What kinds of tasks can computers perform? What is complexity theory? This chapter discusses the early design and government patronage of computing. Critically, this chapter dispels the commonly-held belief that quantum computers have magical, universal powers to solve problems.

Keywords

complexity theorycalculation versus computationTuring completenessNP-hard problemsBQP
Type
Chapter
Information
Law and Policy for the Quantum Age , pp. 77 - 120
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This content is Open Access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/cclicenses/

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