• Question: How will really fast computers help us and what are they mainly used to do?

    Asked by anon-33905 to Rob on 21 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Robert Woolfson

      Robert Woolfson answered on 21 Jun 2013:

      So supercomputers are used to study incredibly complicated systems that require a lot of different parts to the model. However, they are still very limited in what they can do because of the basic way they work.

      A quantum computer works in a very different way. Instead of studying all possible answers one by one until it finds the right one, it examines them all at the same time and picks the right one out. This is a hell of a lot quicker than current computers. That’s the theory anyway.

      Have a look at this article for a bit more information:

      http://curiosity.discovery.com/question/quantum-computers-used-for-future

Comments