Peter Shor's MIT Fall 2022 course lecture notes on quantum computing
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Re: Peter Shor's MIT Fall 2022 course lecture notes on quantum computing
#2I have taught a course on quantum computing a few times, mostly to CS students who have no background in quantum mechanics. The way I proceed is to
* First introduce classical reversible computation. I model it using linear algebra, meaning classical n-bit states are 2^n length binary vectors, and the gates are 2^n x 2^n binary matrices acting on theses states. Exponential, yes, but a faithful model. The critical feature here is that you already need the tensor product structure. Rather than some unique feature of quantum.
* Introduce probabilistic classical computation. Now the states/vectors have real entries in [0,1] and obey the L1 norm (the critical feature). Similarly, the gate matrices.
* Now, argue that quantum computing just requires the same linear algebriac structure but we (1) work over the complex number field, (2) norm is L2.
The reason I like this development is that it takes at least some of the mystery out of quantum mechanics. It is not a strange model of computation, completely divorced from classical. Just a variant of it, that happens to be the one the universe runs on.
Peter Shor does discuss classical computation in two lectures, but from just the notes it seems detached from the rest of the course.
Re: Peter Shor's MIT Fall 2022 course lecture notes on quantum computing
#3I have taught a course on quantum computing a few times, mostly to CS students who have no background in quantum mechanics. The way I proceed is to * First introduce classical reversible computation. I model it using linear algebra, meaning classical n-bit states are 2^n length binary vectors, and the gates are 2^n x 2^n binary matrices acting on theses states. Exponential, yes, but a faithful model. The critical fea…
On behalf of my fellow English majors, may I just say: What??
I love Hacker News because it exposes me to a great deal of things like this. I intend to do as deep a dive I can muster into the provided lecture notes. But boy howdy, are certain topics I encounter here humbling.
If I were fully honest with myself I would avoid a certain subset of the content on hn. Sometimes I think it only fuels my impostor syndrome.
Re: Peter Shor's MIT Fall 2022 course lecture notes on quantum computing
#4I have taught a course on quantum computing a few times, mostly to CS students who have no background in quantum mechanics. The way I proceed is to * First introduce classical reversible computation. I model it using linear algebra, meaning classical n-bit states are 2^n length binary vectors, and the gates are 2^n x 2^n binary matrices acting on theses states. Exponential, yes, but a faithful model. The critical fea…
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Re: Peter Shor's MIT Fall 2022 course lecture notes on quantum computing
#5I have taught a course on quantum computing a few times, mostly to CS students who have no background in quantum mechanics. The way I proceed is to * First introduce classical reversible computation. I model it using linear algebra, meaning classical n-bit states are 2^n length binary vectors, and the gates are 2^n x 2^n binary matrices acting on theses states. Exponential, yes, but a faithful model. The critical fea…
On behalf of my fellow English majors, may I just say: What?? I love Hacker News because it exposes me to a great deal of things like this. I intend to do as deep a dive I can muster into the provided lecture notes. But boy howdy, are certain topics I encounter here humbling. If I were fully honest with myself I would avoid a certain subset of the content on hn. Sometimes I think it only fuels my impostor syndrome.
Don't worry, I had the same reaction. But you're not an impostor for spending your time learning whatever it is you're learning instead of this.
Re: Peter Shor's MIT Fall 2022 course lecture notes on quantum computing
#6I have taught a course on quantum computing a few times, mostly to CS students who have no background in quantum mechanics. The way I proceed is to * First introduce classical reversible computation. I model it using linear algebra, meaning classical n-bit states are 2^n length binary vectors, and the gates are 2^n x 2^n binary matrices acting on theses states. Exponential, yes, but a faithful model. The critical fea…
On behalf of my fellow English majors, may I just say: What?? I love Hacker News because it exposes me to a great deal of things like this. I intend to do as deep a dive I can muster into the provided lecture notes. But boy howdy, are certain topics I encounter here humbling. If I were fully honest with myself I would avoid a certain subset of the content on hn. Sometimes I think it only fuels my impostor syndrome.
Every new concept requires a mapping to metaphors and/or analogies. And when the mapping is mismatched between learner and author's content, elucidation hangs in the balance. Thus, the expertise of lecturers lies in expertise of public speaking coupled with mapping concepts to the intended audience.
QC and general relativity are daunting topics that don't lend themselves well to short-form, self-paced content. These are topics that need foundational perquisites and subject matter experts to catechize. It would be like hopping out of a helicopter mid K2 without any training or acclimatization and expecting to summit. Start smaller and work your way up one step or idea at a time. :)
Re: Peter Shor's MIT Fall 2022 course lecture notes on quantum computing
#7I have taught a course on quantum computing a few times, mostly to CS students who have no background in quantum mechanics. The way I proceed is to * First introduce classical reversible computation. I model it using linear algebra, meaning classical n-bit states are 2^n length binary vectors, and the gates are 2^n x 2^n binary matrices acting on theses states. Exponential, yes, but a faithful model. The critical fea…
Your approach sounds very interesting. Do you have any course materials to share or recommend?
Re: Peter Shor's MIT Fall 2022 course lecture notes on quantum computing
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
On behalf of my fellow English majors, may I just say: What?? I love Hacker News because it exposes me to a great deal of things like this. I intend to do as deep a dive I can muster into the provided lecture notes. But boy howdy, are certain topics I encounter here humbling. If I were fully honest with myself I would avoid a certain subset of the content on hn. Sometimes I think it only fuels my impostor syndrome.
Every new concept requires a mapping to metaphors and/or analogies. And when the mapping is mismatched between learner and author's content, elucidation hangs in the balance. Thus, the expertise of lecturers lies in expertise of public speaking coupled with mapping concepts to the intended audience. QC and general relativity are daunting topics that don't lend themselves well to short-form, self-paced content. These…
Pattern recognition and analogy are my secret weapons, for sure. I'm really only a good engineer because I'm good at organizing and communicating my thoughts. It's the only reason I've made it so far in my career -- definitely not any innate propensity for "hard" cs concepts. I faked it til I made it, and now I'm pretty darn good at it.
I think in my particular case the concepts around quantum ____ are so abstract I'm unable to find anything to liken it to. It certainly doesn't help I lack any substantial background in mathematics.
Hopefully one day I'll get there. Or maybe I'm already there and not there at the same time! Who knows!?
Re: Peter Shor's MIT Fall 2022 course lecture notes on quantum computing
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
On behalf of my fellow English majors, may I just say: What?? I love Hacker News because it exposes me to a great deal of things like this. I intend to do as deep a dive I can muster into the provided lecture notes. But boy howdy, are certain topics I encounter here humbling. If I were fully honest with myself I would avoid a certain subset of the content on hn. Sometimes I think it only fuels my impostor syndrome.
Don't worry, I had the same reaction. But you're not an impostor for spending your time learning whatever it is you're learning instead of this.
My issue is, I seem to only ever be interested in learning the things I struggle with...
Re: Peter Shor's MIT Fall 2022 course lecture notes on quantum computing
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
Don't worry, I had the same reaction. But you're not an impostor for spending your time learning whatever it is you're learning instead of this.
My issue is, I seem to only ever be interested in learning the things I struggle with...
Why bother learning things that are easy?