Quantum Parallelism

When to use a quantum computer

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Quantum computing is a statistical modeling tool. The variables of this model are in a state of superposition whose internal state determines the probabilities of their possible outcomes. Entanglement allows the modeling of conditions between variables that cause them to interact.

But it would be hard to understand all the hype around quantum computing if it were just a statistical modeling tool. That wouldn’t explain why quantum computing has been called the most disruptive technology of the 21st century and why it’s capable of solving problems that classical computers cannot. So the pressing question is: What makes quantum computing so powerful?

What makes quantum computing so powerful isn’t its processing speed. In fact, it is pretty slow.

What makes quantum computing so powerful isn’t its memory, either. In fact, it is absurdly tiny. We’re talking about only a few quantum bits.

Instead, what makes quantum computing so powerful — the source of the speed-up in a quantum computation — is quantum parallelism.

Quantum parallelism arises from the ability of its qubits to exist in a…