Computer Science has had an age long thorn sticking in its side, are P (polynomial time) problems equal to NP (non-polynomial or exponential time) problems? NP- Complete problems, or NPC, could potentially take an immeasurable amount of time to solve. NP problems can be reduced to P or polynomial time, in certain situations. However, the gap arises when we aren’t able to reduce every situation to a P case. If we can’t simplify, the program could potentially run infinitely. Quantum computers may bring a resolution to the NP reduction issue. They may also bring about faster computational prowess and change the paradigm of personal computers.
Quantum computers have been theory crafted in laboratories for a few decades and have just recently come into the public’s eye. Yuri Manin, a renowned German physician and mathematician, first proposed the concept in 1980. An entire bibliography of Yuri’s life can be found here. Quantum computers have qubits. Qubits implement superposition in order to take on many different states simultaneously. Therefore, the computational ability of a single processor is increased exponentially. The only downside to this – the bytes don’t have a state until they have been read in. This is troublesome when determining a byte pattern beforehand. Creating a readable string requires the byte state to first be known; without this knowledge, they aren't fed through the correct resistors.
The unreadability of a qubit prevents their hostile takeover of current personal computers. They flip up or down depending upon the electronic field charge. Due to current understanding of quantum physics, we aren’t able to know the position and state of the molecule simultaneously. This severely inhibits personal application. In the near future, technology may allow us to decipher the state before being read in. Nearly 8,000 articles were published last year alone on the subject of developing a universal quantum computer according to Tech Crunch. If this reality comes to fruition the personal computer will become obsolete and a new age of technology will dawn upon us.
Quantum computers are able to conquer NP problems with ease. A 64 qubit quantum computer has the equivalent computational capacity of a 2^64th power personal computer. In a personal computer 3 bytes can only store 1 of 8 possibilities of 1’s and 0’s. A quantum computer with 3 qubits can be all 8 possibilities at once! With each addition of a qubit the possibilities double. Thus where the 2^64th power increase comes from. With practically 18 billion times more bytes, exponential and undetermined mathematical algorithms can be solved within seconds. The mathematical calculation and in depth explanation of quantum computation is explained thoroughly in the Tale of Two Qubits. Computer scientists would no longer need to optimize algorithms. We aren’t able to prove P = NP, but NP and NP-Complete will become an obsolete categorization of problems. Even though quantum computers are still far from where they need to be, they have come leaps and bounds since they’ve been conceived. They are the solution to NP problems and will propel us to faster computational speeds. In the next ten years we may possibly see a personal quantum computer! I do believe they are humanity’s next age of progression, and will reveal many questions pertaining to the universe.
