Quantum Computer Demoed, Plays Sudoku

prostoalex writes "Canadian company D-Wave Systems is getting some technology press buzz after successfully demonstrating their quantum computer (discussed here earlier) that the company plans to rent out. Scientific American has a more technical description of how the quantum computer works, as well as possible areas of application: 'The quantum computer was given three problems to solve: searching for molecular structures that match a target molecule, creating a complicated seating plan, and filling in Sudoku puzzles.' Another attendee provides some videos from the demo." Anyone want to guess how long before "qubit" gets compressed to "quit" (as "bigit" became "bit" in the last century)?

Nope

[Anonymous Coward]

"Anyone want to guess how long before "qubit" gets compressed to "quit" (as "bigit" became "bit" in the last century)?"

Nope.

http://myspace-271.vo.llnwd.net/00407/17/24/407284 271_s.jpg [llnwd.net]

qubit

[Anonymous Coward]

Anyone want to guess how long before "qubit" gets compressed to "quit" (as "bigit" became "bit" in the last century)?

I got dibs on "forever"

Re:Curious

[paeanblack]

I'm actually curious - for how long do the 16 qubits stay coherent? You can only do quantum computations while the qubits remain coherent. Furthermore, IIRC coherence times where (at best) in the range of a few microseconds.

That's why quantum computers will be so fast. If not, they will constantly forget... Damn. Where was I going with this?

This isn't fair!

[neo]

I want to solve sudoku. Now some computer can do it so fast that it's finished before they even start? What good is that? Sudoku is supposed to be about wasting time, not reversing it.

The Amazing Thing Is...

[Anonymous Coward]

...somewhere in the universe there is a computer just like it
unsolving the Sodoku puzzle at the exact same time.

FTLQTDC ... Faster Than Light Quantum Tunneling Disinformation .. like this post.

Or rather...

[null etc.]

Anyone want to guess how long before "qubit" gets compressed to "quit" (as "bigit" became "bit" in the last century)?

Anyone want to guess how long before hillbillies start asking "How many quberts you got in that there system?"

Re:obligatory

[Undertaker43017]

Not yet, give it a week.

Of course it is a quantum computer, so maybe it's done already and we just don't know it, because every time we look at it, it changes.

On the other hand it can only play Sodoku so far, so maybe not.

Re:obligatory

[j00r0m4nc3r]

But... does it run Linux?

It runs all possible operating systems at once, but once you type a command in the probability wave collapses and you're stuck using AmigaDOS.

Here me son of man!

[GodInHell]

I come to warn you that there shall be a great outage.. go forth and build an array to save my creations. Make it 100 qubits long, 30 qubits wide, and 10 qubits deep. Into this hash all data in /usr/god/dataM/ .. and /usr/god/dataF/

Do this, and you shall survive the outage I shall send.

:D I can't resist a bad pun.

-GiH

Re:Sudoku: The np-easy version of Traveling Salesm

[pato101]

I've built a Sudoku program to help me reduce the boring parts (filling in the only posssible option if it is known)
Wait, those are the boring parts??
Took all the fun out of the game.
I told you!

Re:Traveling Salesman

[Zdzicho00]

I think that it will solve the Traveling Salesman problem of course (find best possible path for salesman).
Unfortunately it shall to be run by salesman before every travel - so it isn't very useful.

/Z

A bold leap forward in computing

[Rob T Firefly]

Immediately after booting, the Quantum Computer disappeared in a flash of light and noise. It resurfaced in 1985, where it briefly took over a Commodore 64 and corrected some mistakes it made the first time around, before moving onto a UNIVAC in 1955...

Re:Here me son of man!

[Apocalypse111]

Damn! You beat me to it! I was gonna post something like this myself, but the flood-protection was telling me to wait.

Oops

[rbarreira]

As you probably have learned, sqrt(2^n) is sqrt(2^(n/2)).

Obviously that second sqrt() shouldn't be there, apologies (my original post is correct).

Bill Cosby

[sconeu]

Lord, what's a Qubit?

Re:My suggestion for new tasks

[Farmer Tim]

You don't want quantum computers anywhere near the Slashdot front page: it'll only lead to more accusations of spin.

Re:obligatory

[GodInHell]

Dev: Ah.. finally got it up and..
Linux: CRASH AND NOISE AND HORROR AND SCROLL SCREEN KERNEL DUMP!!
Dev: .. stupid drivers.. grr..

||time passes||

Dev: okay, this time.. it stays up..
Linux: ...loading.. CRASH!! OH GOD MY SPLEEN! NOT MY HARD DRIVE!! OWWW!

||Five iterations later||

Dev: Finally... now.. WORK!!
Linux: ...loading.. Hello Dave, can I help you?
Dev: Yes! Finally!! Tell me, what is the meaning of life, the universe, and everything!?
Linux: Oh that's simple.. spending time with your wife and kids.
Dev: What.. oh.. God.. NO!!!

I like linux.. and I like jokes at linux.. go figure.

-GiH

Re:For real?

[paeanblack]

But for doing your taxes or playing Quake it would be completely useless.

I'm not sure about that...I've heard rumors of IBM unleashing Deep Pwn upon the FPS world next year

The funny thing about quantum computing is...

[Coco Lopez]

From what I understand, when you run Windows on a quantum computer it won't crash unless you look at it.

Also, the last time I used a machine with qubits, I had a hard time keeping them from jumping off the friggin' pyramid.

You've been great... I'm here all week... remember to tip your waiter.

Re:Here me son of man!

[Grech]

Flood protection. Isn't that ironic.

Re:BIGIT??

[HTH NE1]

Only if four of them is a quibble.

Re:P not necessarily NP

[Anonymous Coward]

My uncle did 20 years ago. Scientists won't acept the proof because he's black.

Re:Traveling Salesman

[amper]

Besides, real things (even salesmen) don't just have to travel in straight lines between points in space. There are other factors like lunch breaks and the location of good restaurants, which the problem doesn't account for.

Which, of course, clearly demonstrates the utility of the Bistro Drive for all Traveling Salesmen.

Re:Traveling Salesman

[Anonymous Coward]

Challenge accepted. I will have a 1,000,000 x 1,000,000 sudoku problem available for your quantum computer soon. Care to place a wager on this before I present you with the grid?

Re:Traveling Salesman

[fishbowl]

"I was taking Steven Cook's Complexity Theory class at UofT and when we were given the TSP I immediately saw a solution reduced into Dijkstra's algorithm. I don't think anyone in the class actually followed, the prof said that it can probably work. I never dealt with it again, but that was the reason I remember that class."

Did you at least try to scribble it in the margin of your book?

Re:Traveling Salesman

[nasch]

So, Mr. Smarty Pants, if your Sudoku solver is good enough to solve any grid in polynomial time, please show the rest of us, as you've just cracked every encryption scheme invented to date.

As the CS gangsta rapper MC++ put it, "if we could factor large composites in poly time, we'd have enough money to not have to rhyme."

kit

[Tumbleweed]

"qit", (pronounced KIT

I don't think so, Michael.

Re:BIGIT??

[cellocgw]

"qit is better."

I vote for "qute," pronounced like the way you'd describe your girlfriend if you had one.

Re:BIGIT??

[Eudial]

The metric system is the tool of the devil! My car gets forty rods to the hogshead, and that's the way I likes it!

Re:BIGIT??

[Dirtside]

I guess eight would be a qubits would be a quite. Quite what, I'm not sure.

Re:BIGIT??

[julesh]

The metric system is the tool of the devil! My car gets forty rods to the hogshead, and that's the way I likes it!

Jesus, you should start looking for a fuel leak. [google.co.uk]

Re:Sudoku: The np-easy version of Traveling Salesm

[Intron]

This is an example of using the wrong tool for the job.

You should have written it as a Word macro.