Quantum Computing

We often hear about a future filled with quantum computers which will speed up computations by thousands of years, break today’s encryption, and help discover new medicines. How does quantum computing really work, though? How can it be faster? Why do we not have such computers yet, at least not ones that are useful? And what do drawings of boxes and „spiders“ have to do with all this?

In this course, we will answer these questions. You will learn the fundamentals of quantum mechanics and help create an algorithm that works faster than any regular computing alternative. You will learn and use a different type of math, one where drawn diagrams of boxes, strings, and spiders take the centre stage. Using this diagrammatic approach, we will try to understand the quantum world (and teleport Schrödinger’s cat).

Specifically, we will cover:
– How does maths in diagrams work: how to represent numbers, functions, vectors?
– How do normal (classical) algorithms solve problems? What are bits and how to represent these algorithms graphically?
– What makes quantum mechanics interesting? What is a superposition and what is a qubit?
– How to draw quantum circuits? What is quantum teleportation?
– How to write a quantum algorithm?
– Why is it hard to make a quantum computer? How to deal with errors?

If you enjoy math, physics, or computing, and you would like to learn a bit more about quantum technologies, this course is for you. The goal of this course is to show why this topic is interesting and what further study in this direction might look like. High school mathematics will be assumed (probability, vectors, functions, and trigonometry). The sessions will consist of a lecture part and a problem solving part, where we will solve and discuss related problems to get the hang of the lesson content.

Honza Apolín

Honza is doing a PhD in quantum computing at ETH Zurich. Born and raised in Prague, he spent his last two years of high school on a scholarship in the UK, where he developed a passion for maths, physics, and quantum mechanics. That led to him doing a bachelor’s and master’s in physics at Oxford University. He recently came back from a trip to Latin America, where he helped catch bats for ecological research and also learned Spanish. Apart from physics and adventures, he enjoys songwriting, painting with acrylics, hiking, and bad movies. He attended Discover as a student in 2018, which motivated him and helped his application to Oxford. Since then, he has been helping out high school students with applications for scholarships and top universities.

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