More than a hundred million times powerful than supercomputers, Quantum computing uses probability attributes rather than binaries for logical operations.
Personal computers have improved our speed of work. For a layman, it's not possible to grapple with the internal workings of a classical computer, as it is. However, when it comes to highly advanced scientific research purposes, which use supercomputers, even the top-of-the-line PCs are mere playthings. In light of that revelation, quantum computers can be begun to be understood as uber-machines that relegate the most advanced state-of-the-art, classical computers as obsolete junk.
A Bit On Supercomputers
Supercomputers can perform tasks hundreds of thousand times faster than the very latest of all PCs. But the underlying mechanism of their logical operations is the same as that of classical computers. They use definitive positions of a physical state, usually binaries, to operate. This means, their operations are based on one of two possible positions. Any one of the single states — such as on-off, equivalent to, 1 or 0, is termed as a bit.
Supercomputers vs Quantum Computers
On the other hand, the operations of a Quantum computer is based on the probability of an object's state prior to it being measured. The properties of these states remain undefined till they have been ascertained say, like the polarization of a photon or the spin of an electron, which means that their calculations are not dependent on the binary state, i.e., 1 or 0. Thus, quantum computers have the potential to run through an exponentially large amount of data in a much lesser span of time when compared to even supercomputers. In quantum computing parlance, the power of this computing speed is known as a qubit. The latest quantum computers are more than 100 million times faster than the most recent supercomputers.
Spinning Coins And Superpositions
To better understand the concept, one can consider the fuzzy states of a spinning coin when it is still tossing. The resultant unmeasured quantum state that occurs as mixed 'superposition' has no one clearly defined positions. Theoretically, these superpositions can also entangle themselves with similar ones from other objects. It means that the final outcome that will ultimately emerge will be related mathematically to each other, even while these sources remain unknown.
Special Algorithm
When the apparently mysterious computation of these entangling superpositions is deciphered by a special set of algorithms, real operational magic happens.
Quantum computers are capable of solving immensely complex problems that the most advanced supercomputers take a long, long time to resolve, and that too, if at all.
