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... Introduction What are Quantum Computers? Quantum computers have the potential to perform certain calculations billions of times faster than any silicon-based computer. Scientists have already built basic quantum computers that can perform certain calculations; but a practical quantum computer is still years away. Computers have become more compact and considerably faster in performing their task, the task remains the same: to manipulate and interpret an encoding of binary bits into a useful computational result. A bit is a fundamental unit of information, classically represented as a 0 or 1 in your digital computer. Each classical bit is physically realized through a macroscopic physical system, such as the magnetization on a hard disk or the charge on a capacitor. A document, for example, comprised of n-characters stored on the hard drive of a typical computer is accordingly described by a string of 8n zeros and ones. Herein lies a key difference between your

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