So you bought a Sudoku Lotto ticket and now you’re having trouble solving it? Turn to a quantum computer! When D-Wave Systems, Inc. announced that it had created a 16-qubit quantum computer last year, they demonstrated its power in three ways: “searching for molecular structures that match a target molecule, creating a complicated seating plan, and filling in Sudoku puzzles.” (See First “Commercial” Quantum Computer Solves Sudoku Puzzles). According to D-Wave’s website, two months ago they unveiled a 28-qubit model; however, there’s no mention of its game playing skills.
For more about Quantum Computers, see How Stuff Works.
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Tags: quantum computers
January 22, 2008 at 8:40 pm |
Let’s not get too excited about D-Wave. See here, and all its links, for a very lengthy discussion about all of D-Wave’s claims. They haven’t exactly convinced the scientific community of much.
January 23, 2008 at 5:49 am |
Well dang — it sounds like the computer might or might not be quantum, and might or might not be able to solve Sudoku puzzles (I did laugh at the line about the parody Sudoku puzzles that had been distributed, with only one box left to fill in. The Scientific American article I was quoting didn’t say how hard the computer’s puzzles were!).
But it still seems like something to keep an eye on, in any case.