Unlock the core math and understand the technical nuances of quantum computing in this detailed guide. Delve into the practicality of NISQ algorithms, and survey promising advancements in quantum machine learning.

Key Features

• Discover how quantum computing works and delve into the math behind it with practical examples
• Learn about and assess the most up-to-date quantum computing topics including quantum machine learning
• Explore the inner workings of existing quantum computing technologies to understand how they may perform significantly better than their classical counterparts

Book Description

Dancing with Qubits, Second Edition, is a comprehensive quantum computing textbook that starts with an overview of why quantum computing is so different from classical computing and describes several industry use cases where it can have a major impact. A full description of classical computing and the mathematical underpinnings of quantum computing follows, helping you better understand concepts such as superposition, entanglement, and interference. Next up are circuits and algorithms, both basic and sophisticated, as well as a survey of the physics and engineering ideas behind how quantum computing hardware is built. Finally, the book looks to the future and gives you guidance on understanding how further developments may affect you.

This new edition is updated throughout with more than 100 new exercises and includes new chapters on NISQ algorithms and quantum machine learning.

Understanding quantum computing requires a lot of math, and this book doesn't shy away from the necessary math concepts you'll need. Each topic is explained thoroughly and with helpful examples, leaving you with a solid foundation of knowledge in quantum computing that will help you pursue and leverage quantum-led technologies.

What you will learn

• Explore the mathematical foundations of quantum computing
• Discover the complex, mind-bending concepts that underpin quantum systems
• Understand the key ideas behind classical and quantum computing
• Refresh and extend your grasp of essential mathematics, computing, and quantum theory
• Examine a detailed overview of qubits and quantum circuits
• Dive into quantum algorithms such as Grover's search, Deutsch-Jozsa, Simon's, and Shor's
• Explore the main applications of quantum computing in the fields of scientific computing, AI, and elsewhere

Who this book is for

Dancing with Qubits, Second Edition, is a quantum computing textbook for all those who want to understand and explore the inner workings of quantum computing. This entails building up from basic to some sophisticated mathematics and is therefore best suited for those with a healthy interest in mathematics, physics, engineering, or computer science.

Table of Contents

1. Why Quantum Computing
2. They're Not Old, They're Classics
3. More Numbers than You Can Imagine
4. Planes and Circles and Spheres, Oh My
5. Dimensions
6. What Do You Mean "Probably"?
7. One Qubit
8. Two Qubits, Three
9. Wiring Up the Circuits
10. From Circuits to Algorithms
11. Getting Physical
12. Considering NISQ Algorithms
13. Introduction to Quantum Machine Learning
14. Questions about the Future

Why is now a good time to learn about quantum computing?​

Quantum computing and AI are two of the most critical computing areas today. While our quantum systems are only starting to scale and improve for commercial use, we must prepare. Quantum computing is hard!

Quantum computing differs significantly from how we code for our phones, laptops, and cloud computers. If we don’t have more people learning about quantum computing now, we will face a substantial quantum workforce shortfall, and the societal advantages quantum brings will be delayed.​

What makes this book on quantum computing different from others?

You don’t need a degree in physics to understand this book. While this is sometimes true of other books, I think they often require mathematical prerequisites that students may not have or don’t remember. ​

I wrote this book imagining I was standing next to a student at a whiteboard, answering any questions students might have, encouraging them to understand not just the “what” of quantum computing but the “why.”

About the Author

Robert S. Sutor has been a technical leader and executive in the IT industry for over 40 years. More than two decades of that were spent in IBM Research in Yorktown Heights, New York USA. During his time there, he worked on and led efforts in symbolic mathematical computation, mathematical programming languages, optimization, AI, blockchain, and quantum computing. He is the author of Dancing with Qubits: How quantum computing works and how it can change the world and Dancing with Python: Learn Python software development from scratch and get started with quantum computing, also with Packt. He is the published co-author of several research papers and the book Axiom: The Scientific Computation System with the late Richard D. Jenks. Sutor was an IBM executive on the software side of the business in areas including Java web application servers, emerging industry standards, software on Linux, mobile, and open source. He was the Vice President of Corporate Development and, later, Chief Quantum Advocate, at Infleqtion, a quantum computing and quantum sensing company based in Boulder, Colorado USA. He is currently an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University at Buffalo, New York, USA. He is a theoretical mathematician by training, has a Ph.D. from Princeton University, and an undergraduate degree from Harvard College. He started coding when he was 15 and has used most of the programming languages that have come along.