Detour: P and NP

In Modern Physics, we were expected to do research on quantum computing. One of the great benefits of using quantum computing as opposed to standard computing was that it reduced problems that normally would be solved in NP time to P time. After Ryan and Jonas gave their presentation detailing this, I was utterly confused. I had no clue what the terms P and NP meant, or how quantum computing might solve these problems. To be honest, after a bit of research, I still have no idea how quantum computing reduces something from P time to NP time. The math is usually not explained in most of the explanations, and the little math that is shown is filled with jargon.

Typical "simplified" post.

However, I did learn what P and NP time each mean, and how to apply them in a more traditional context. It's important to note here the P and NP are huge concepts in the field of computer science, where speed is of vital importance. In fact, there is a million dollar prize that will be awarded to anyone who can solve the problem of whether or not P = NP.

"John", you may say, "stop hyping up the importance of these three letters and start your explanation!"

Okay. I will. P and NP are both descriptions of how long it takes for a computer to solve a problem. Essentially, P stands for "Polynomial Time", which means that the problem is pretty easily solvable by a computer. NP stands for "Not Polynomial Time", which means that the problem takes a long time to solve. This explanation is super simplified, and maybe I'll go into some of the nuances in another, later post, but essentially, the P = NP problem simply means that for all the problems where we thought the solution would take a long time, there exists a separate solution that is much quicker. Thanks for reading!