Quantum computing is a rapidly-maturing field that uses quantum-mechanical phenomena such as superposition and entanglement to perform computations considered intractable for classical computers.
If you didn’t understand a word of the previous sentence, you’re not alone! My first introduction to quantum computing was when I was a university student and a friend of mine told me he was studying quantum computing. I asked him what this was, and after five minutes, I still had no idea.
Fast forward to mid-2016, I joined the team in IBM Research that developed the IBM Q Experience and QISKit, and needed to get up to speed on exactly what quantum computing was about. I read all the online guides and tutorials I could find and watched countless videos, but every time I thought I understood something, I found myself back at the beginning, not having a strong grasp of the material. Plus, to be honest, the material was difficult to understand and veiled behind a wall of mathematical expressions. …
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