Linked by Hadrien Grasland on Sun 23rd Jan 2011 17:30 UTC, submitted by fran
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NP problems are often O(N!) or O(N^N) or worse on deterministic machines. However, they most likely are solvable in P time on quantum computing machines. This does NOT mean that P=NP because quantum computing machines are NOT deterministic.
This is a common misunderstanding about the power of quantum computers.
When you talk about problems solvable in P time on quantum computers, I guess you mean the complexity class BQP. However, today the question of weather BQP=NP is as open as the P=NP question.
Or to quote Scott Aaronsson "Quantum computers are not known to be able to solve NP-complete problems in polynomial time."




Member since:
2005-07-07
Quantum computer may help make part of an NP computation deterministic, but that does not mean that NP problems become deterministic in the least.
P time is not the same as the class P.
P time means solvable in polynomial time.
The class P is the set of problems solvable in polynomial time on a deterministic machine. The class NP is the set of problems solvable in polynomial time on a non-deterministic machine.
NP problems are often O(N!) or O(N^N) or worse on deterministic machines. However, they most likely are solvable in P time on quantum computing machines. This does NOT mean that P=NP because quantum computing machines are NOT deterministic.