Quantum Computing: A Gentle Introduction (Scientific and Engineering Computation)

I'm a software engineer who has had a life-long interest in physics and have been trying to teach myself quantum mechanics for a couple years. I'm only 50 pages into this book so far, but I'm very impressed with it. The authors not only explain the concepts clearly, but they go out of their way to anticipate the questions and confusion that the student may have, and address them directly. For example, their discussion that neither the magnitude or the overall phase of a quantum state vector are physically significant cleared up some confusion for me. Also, their explicit statement that while an observable is represented as a linear operator, that operator is never used to multiply a state vector confirmed my observation. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the subject. An understanding of quantum mechanics is not required (although helpful), but a solid background in linear algebra is probably necessary.

Good non-technical introduction, the first book I could understand. OK, a little technical, freshman physics. I was hoping for some inside dope on the D-wave, the only seriously sounding company that claims to be building such a thing, but didn't get any. So took one star off.

This is my first introduction to this subject and I cannot compare it to other books on quantum computers. For a subject this complicated and often counter-intuitive, this book is very readable. It contains enough examples to understand each topic before moving on. There are also a lot of useful warnings about incorrect assumptions that the readers might carry over from vector spaces and linear algebra. The authors seem very in-tune to common misconceptions that the reader might have and they take time to correct them. The authors are not stingy about repeating definitions, facts and expanding notations where it is helpful. Still, don't expect to casually browse through this book unless you already know a lot about the subject. It takes work.

Just what I asked for.

Not sure what the point of this book is. This is not an "intro" book. I have a computing, math, and physics background (including quantum naturally). If I had to rely on this book to explain any of the concepts for the first time or funnel previous learning into quantum computing , I would be lost. Maybe this book works ok as a quick reference or refresher if you ALREADY know the material. It is funny reading some of the reviews by people pretending like they understand the material in the book and have limited physics or math backgrounds. The "wonder" and "coolness" of Quantum Computing with its current popularity does not allow the ego to admit the truth I guess. Also, there are no solutions, even just a few, for the end of chapter problems. There are few solved problems in the book in general. The issue is that authors at this level use their own idiosyncratic way to phrase a question. In the academic world, one would use "office hours" for clarification. There is nothing more frustrating than spending more time trying to understand what a question is asking than solving the problem once you understand the question. On a positive note, the book is relatively cheap compared to the other Quantum computing books out there.

excellent

This book is obnoxious. Academics should pride themselves on how clearly they explain subjects. Instead they try to prove how smart they are by seeing who can develop the most complex textbook. Don't waste your money buying this. Just go to YouTube where a 20 something student makes these concepts understandable.

This is a good introduction to quantum computing, modulo a few things. I'm a mathematician, and I often found the calculations and concepts explained in a needlessly complicated way. For example, the definition and derivation of the density operator material was very opaque. A density operator is a positive operator with unit trace, so why not say that before getting into rather complicated calculations to illustrate its connections to the quantum state? The formalism invoked really muddied the waters. The same could be said about the material on measurement, and in a few other places. Otherwise, the book is excellent. The exercises are useful, and explanations are well thought out and written. Recommended.

I don't think you could write a much better exposition of qubits, projectors, operators and density matrices. The exercises and examples are well-thought-out. These are difficult topics (for me), so much credit to the authors. You'll need 3 or 4 attempts at each chapter and the patience to work through all the exercises if you really want the knowledge to stick. Much of the middle portion of the book around algorithms is somewhat inaccessible to me so far, but the fact that I've understood the earlier chapters gives me confidence that I can get there eventually. I'd recommend skipping ahead to chapter 10 (density matrices) after chapter 4, then circling back later to deal with the algorithms. An excellent book.

Some of the negative comments complain about "too little QM", but it is clearly stated at the start, that QM will be abstracted away. If you know a minimum of linear algebra and the basics of complex numbers you are set to go. Each chapter has a very good end section, with references to supplementary books and articles. Also a very good litterature list. I can't imagine a better introduction to QC (but if you want to learn QM, you will need a physics book! ).

Un buon libro se si vuole avere un'introduzione a questo mondo

Muy completo pero bastante denso. No tanto como el Nielsen y Chuang, pero mas que el de Sutor : Dancing with Qbits. No deja nada importante por tocar y es claro y riguroso a la vez. Imprescindible trabajar los ejercicios que propone !! Un buen texto intermedio !

This is a very good book that gives a brief introduction to quantum computing and can be used before going into Nielsen and Chuang.