Introduction to Quantum Computing for Beginners: A Conceptual Comparison with Classical Computing

Siddanta Sodari, Devendra Chapagain

Kwabena Mensah Sarpong

Quantum computing is an emerging paradigm of computing that represents and processes informationusing the principles of quantum mechanics, with its operation fundamentally different fromclassical systems. As it gains popularity and as interest in it grows across computer science andengineering, many who may wish to dive into the field encounter introductory resources that areoften either too mathematically demanding or too vague. This paper places attention on conceptuallearning and intuitive understanding by providing a clear accessible introduction to the field ofquantum computing without any advanced formal derivations. Using natural language, the bedrockideas such as superposition, entanglement, measurement, qubits, and quantum gates are unfoldedwith little mathematics, including a well-constructed comparison between the respective advantagesof classical and quantum computing. A short Qisit example is also included to demonstratereal-world uses of these ideas. Even as a beginner familiar with only classical computing and highschool-level mathematics, this material is aimed at you. This paper functions as an instructionalpathway that helps its readers to move from their existing knowledge of classical computing intoquantum computing, while still acknowledging the current technological limitations.

E. Gerjuoy

Hyeok Kim, Mingyoung Jeng, Kaitlin N. Smith

By leveraging quantum-mechanical properties like superposition, entanglement, and interference, quantum computing (QC) offers promising solutions for problems that classical computing has not been able to solve efficiently, such as drug discovery, cryptography, and physical simulation. Unfortunately, adopting QC remains difficult for potential users like QC beginners and application-specific domain experts, due to limited theoretical and practical knowledge, the lack of integrated interface-wise support, and poor documentation. For example, to use quantum computers, one has to convert conceptual logic into low-level codes, analyze quantum program results, and share programs and results. To support the wider adoption of QC, we, as designers and QC experts, propose interaction techniques for QC through design iterations. These techniques include writing quantum codes conceptually, comparing initial quantum programs with optimized programs, sharing quantum program results, and exploring quantum machines. We demonstrate the feasibility and utility of these techniques via use cases with high-fidelity prototypes.

Gerard J Milburn

Anirban Pathak

While there are many available textbooks on quantum information theory, most are either too technical for beginners or not complete enough. Filling this gap, Elements of Quantum Computation and Quantum Communication gives a clear, self-contained introduction to quantum computation and communication. Written primarily for undergraduate students in p