Quantum Advantage

What Does Quantum Advantage Mean?

The term “quantum advantage” is used to describe how a quantum computer may be able to outperform a classical computer. Quantum advantage serves as a kind of conceptual example of how much better quantum computers can be at various tasks and processes, and why quantum computing should be pursued as a frontier of IT.

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Techopedia Explains Quantum Advantage

Experts point out that quantum advantage is in some ways synonymous with the term “quantum supremacy.”

Sometimes the two are used interchangeably, but while quantum advantage implies that a quantum computer can perform a test better than any classical computer, quantum supremacy often implies that the that no classical computer can do the work of the quantum computer at all within a set of reasonable parameters.

As Jack Krupansky writes in Medium: “ The central essence of quantum advantage is quantum parallelism which enables quantum algorithms to execute with a computational complexity which is polynomial in contrast with classical algorithms which tend to have a greater (worse) computational complexity which is superpolynomial, such as exponential.” Part of the essential supremacy of quantum computing relates to the ability of the qubit, the fundamental increment, to have an undetermined value.

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Margaret Rouse

Margaret Rouse is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical, business audience. Over the past twenty years her explanations have appeared on TechTarget websites and she's been cited as an authority in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine and Discovery Magazine.Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages. If you have a suggestion for a new definition or how to improve a technical explanation, please email Margaret or contact her…