An Introduction to Quantum Computing

TL;DR

This paper provides an accessible introduction to quantum computing, explaining fundamental concepts, quantum architecture, and a basic quantum algorithm without requiring advanced mathematics or physics.

Contribution

It offers a gentle, beginner-friendly overview of quantum computing principles, including qubits, quantum gates, and Deutsch's algorithm, suitable for newcomers.

Findings

Explains quantum mechanics basics with toy models

Describes quantum architecture including qubits and gates

Presents Deutsch's algorithm as an example

Abstract

Quantum Computing is a new and exciting field at the intersection of mathematics, computer science and physics. It concerns a utilization of quantum mechanics to improve the efficiency of computation. Here we present a gentle introduction to some of the ideas in quantum computing. The paper begins by motivating the central ideas of quantum mechanics and quantum computation with simple toy models. From there we move on to a formal presentation of the small fraction of (finite dimensional) quantum mechanics that we will need for basic quantum computation. Central notions of quantum architecture (qubits and quantum gates) are described. The paper ends with a presentation of one of the simplest quantum algorithms: Deutsch's algorithm. Our presentation demands neither advanced mathematics nor advanced physics.