77 ms·

Microsoft, Brilliant team up to offer quantum curriculum

82 points by jonbaer 7y ago

obenn 7y ago
From a pricing perspective it looks like the first two chapters out of seven are free, and then it would cost 30$ a month to continue (or 12$/month yearly).
- dmix 7y ago
  I'm guessing that includes all of their courses, not just Quantum?
  - caudex 7y ago
    That's correct. Their course offerings are all you can eat with that subscription.
revel 7y ago
How close are we to quantum computing being a thing that I have to actively think about? My understanding is that it's on the horizon but not all that close. I'm impressed at the heavy investment in tooling and education by microsoft -- they've often laid the groundwork for market segments that they've gone on to dominate by making development really easy.
- plainOldText 7y ago
  Indeed, it's not on the near horizon. I found this article illuminating: The Case Against Quantum Computing - https://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/hardware/the-case-against-quantum-computing https://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/hardware/the-case-agains...
  - HanP77 7y ago
    The article is indeed interesting. I find this one addressing it https://www.hpcwire.com/2019/01/09/the-case-against-the-case-against-quantum-computing/ https://www.hpcwire.com/2019/01/09/the-case-against-the-case...
  - reikonomusha 7y ago
    Dyakonov‘s opinions have been rebutted by many prominent quantum information scientists and physicists. To put it charitably, his arguments don’t agree with the consensus. Check out [1] as an example criticism of his writing. [1] https://scirate.com/arxiv/1903.10760 https://scirate.com/arxiv/1903.10760
  - murat124 7y ago
    > I argue that they can’t. In the physical world, continuous quantities (be they voltages or the parameters defining quantum-mechanical wave functions) can be neither measured nor manipulated exactly. That is, no continuously variable quantity can be made to have an exact value, including zero. To a mathematician, this might sound absurd, but this is the unquestionable reality of the world we live in, as any engineer knows. Wasn't this problem addressed just recently? https://www.unibas.ch/en/News-Events/News/Uni-Research/The-geometry-of-an-electron-determined-for-the-first-time.html https://www.unibas.ch/en/News-Events/News/Uni-Research/The-g...
- hannob 7y ago
  Practical Quantum Computing is in a quantum state where it's at the same time around 10 years away and never gonna happen. (To be serious: That's roughly true, you'll get credible scientific opinions on both. What's not true is what you occasionally read: That we're almost at a state where quantum computing will be a mass application.)
- gaze 7y ago
  As a researcher in the field, I think you should think about it because it's fun to think about... but I don't think you "have" to think about it yet.
  - revel 7y ago
    Thanks. That's a pretty neat and tidy summary.
- HillRat 7y ago
  At this point most of the “practical” work seems to be proactive in nature; e.g., financial firms (such as GS) developing quantum solutions that aren’t currently useful, but will be extremely valuable if and when quantum computing can scale up to practical levels. In the meantime, general-purpose quantum languages (hybrid wrappers) are fun and genuinely interesting hobbies, but not much else.
whatshisface 7y ago
I predict that all of the money that these big companies are pouring in to quantum computing (which is motivated by a fear of missing out on the next big thing) will turn out to be a mistake from their perspective, not because quantum computing never works out, but because the next big thing turns out to be something else and blindsides them.
samthecoy 7y ago
Does anyone know of a relatively accessible book that introduces quantum mechanics well?
- scranglis 7y ago
  We (Brilliant) do have an introductory course on quantum mechanics as well. It goes into more of the phenomena (like spin, photons, etc.) than this computing course that mostly focuses on information. Let us know what you think: https://brilliant.org/courses/quantum-objects/ https://brilliant.org/courses/quantum-objects/ If Brilliant isn't your cup of tea – check out mcintyre's spin-first treatment. Generally speaking avoid any textbooks with cats on the cover (ie. Griffith's is popular but only so-so IMO). That being said, we went with a cat on our course ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
- antepodius 7y ago
  Depends how much maths you already know. I've liked Griffiths' Introduction to Quantum Mechanics- the first chapter goes into the Schrodinger equation.
sytelus 7y ago
> For a limited time following the release of this blog post, the first two chapters of Quantum Computing, including an interactive introduction to coding in Q# will be available to all registered Brilliant users for free. I wish these strings were not attached and the course was published on free platform. More people learning QC is itself a benefit then minor revenue generated by few.

82 points by jonbaer 7y ago

From a pricing perspective it looks like the first two chapters out of seven are free, and then it would cost 30$ a month to continue (or 12$/month yearly).

dmix 7y ago
I'm guessing that includes all of their courses, not just Quantum?
- caudex 7y ago
  That's correct. Their course offerings are all you can eat with that subscription.

revel 7y ago

How close are we to quantum computing being a thing that I have to actively think about? My understanding is that it's on the horizon but not all that close. I'm impressed at the heavy investment in tooling and education by microsoft -- they've often laid the groundwork for market segments that they've gone on to dominate by making development really easy.

plainOldText 7y ago
Indeed, it's not on the near horizon. I found this article illuminating: The Case Against Quantum Computing - https://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/hardware/the-case-against-quantum-computing https://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/hardware/the-case-agains...
- HanP77 7y ago
  The article is indeed interesting. I find this one addressing it https://www.hpcwire.com/2019/01/09/the-case-against-the-case-against-quantum-computing/ https://www.hpcwire.com/2019/01/09/the-case-against-the-case...
- reikonomusha 7y ago
  Dyakonov‘s opinions have been rebutted by many prominent quantum information scientists and physicists. To put it charitably, his arguments don’t agree with the consensus. Check out [1] as an example criticism of his writing. [1] https://scirate.com/arxiv/1903.10760 https://scirate.com/arxiv/1903.10760
- murat124 7y ago
  > I argue that they can’t. In the physical world, continuous quantities (be they voltages or the parameters defining quantum-mechanical wave functions) can be neither measured nor manipulated exactly. That is, no continuously variable quantity can be made to have an exact value, including zero. To a mathematician, this might sound absurd, but this is the unquestionable reality of the world we live in, as any engineer knows. Wasn't this problem addressed just recently? https://www.unibas.ch/en/News-Events/News/Uni-Research/The-geometry-of-an-electron-determined-for-the-first-time.html https://www.unibas.ch/en/News-Events/News/Uni-Research/The-g...
hannob 7y ago
Practical Quantum Computing is in a quantum state where it's at the same time around 10 years away and never gonna happen. (To be serious: That's roughly true, you'll get credible scientific opinions on both. What's not true is what you occasionally read: That we're almost at a state where quantum computing will be a mass application.)
gaze 7y ago
As a researcher in the field, I think you should think about it because it's fun to think about... but I don't think you "have" to think about it yet.
- revel 7y ago
  Thanks. That's a pretty neat and tidy summary.
HillRat 7y ago
At this point most of the “practical” work seems to be proactive in nature; e.g., financial firms (such as GS) developing quantum solutions that aren’t currently useful, but will be extremely valuable if and when quantum computing can scale up to practical levels. In the meantime, general-purpose quantum languages (hybrid wrappers) are fun and genuinely interesting hobbies, but not much else.

whatshisface 7y ago

I predict that all of the money that these big companies are pouring in to quantum computing (which is motivated by a fear of missing out on the next big thing) will turn out to be a mistake from their perspective, not because quantum computing never works out, but because the next big thing turns out to be something else and blindsides them.

samthecoy 7y ago

Does anyone know of a relatively accessible book that introduces quantum mechanics well?

scranglis 7y ago
We (Brilliant) do have an introductory course on quantum mechanics as well. It goes into more of the phenomena (like spin, photons, etc.) than this computing course that mostly focuses on information. Let us know what you think: https://brilliant.org/courses/quantum-objects/ https://brilliant.org/courses/quantum-objects/ If Brilliant isn't your cup of tea – check out mcintyre's spin-first treatment. Generally speaking avoid any textbooks with cats on the cover (ie. Griffith's is popular but only so-so IMO). That being said, we went with a cat on our course ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
antepodius 7y ago
Depends how much maths you already know. I've liked Griffiths' Introduction to Quantum Mechanics- the first chapter goes into the Schrodinger equation.

sytelus 7y ago

> For a limited time following the release of this blog post, the first two chapters of Quantum Computing, including an interactive introduction to coding in Q# will be available to all registered Brilliant users for free. I wish these strings were not attached and the course was published on free platform. More people learning QC is itself a benefit then minor revenue generated by few.