We Need Quantum Computers

Ethan Siegel, a senior contributor at Forbes, has an article about unresolved math problems such as the travelling salesman problem, a question that has  remained unresolved for ninety years. In this problem, the salesman has to travel to a number of distinct destinations and then return home to his base. As the number of destinations increase, the number of routes involved explode exponentially.  A regular computer would take a preposterously long time to calculate and recommend the shortest and therefore the most efficient path.  Therefore quantum computers are necessary, and one was designed and successfully tested in 2019.


Here is the link to the Forbes article:


https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2020/05/28/this-90-year-old-math-problem-shows-why-we-need-quantum-computers/#3033ba791c5d




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Footnote from the Blog Author


While Siegel may be right in offering quantum computers as the only tool that can perform a complete “brute force” determination of the shortest path by comparing every single ;possible path, substantial progress was made in the 20^th century through the use of improved algorithms.  See:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travelling_salesman_problem


See also Karmarkar’s algorithm at:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karmarkar%27s_algorithm