Though the cloud service is geared mostly toward scientists and students, anyone interested in this strange new computer will be able to give it a try, Jerry Chow, one of the scientists leading the project, tells Business Insider.
A different kind of computer
A quantum computer is different from today's digital computer.
A digital computer thinks in two states: zero and one (or off and on). A quantum computer uses "combinations of zeroes and ones" to creates multiple states. It can be a zero, a one, both at the same time, something in between them, or it can be a mysterious zero/one state that you can't really determine, Chow says.
These messy states are called "entanglement," and there are some well-known algorithms, or mathematical formulas, that use them, Chow tells us.
Because quantum computers think differently, they can quickly solve tasks that regular computers can't do, such as working with billions of variables at the same time, like the interaction between molecules in chemistry.
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Huh?
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