Rizwan Virk

So how many possibilities are there in a bit 2, right?

0 and 1.

So a qubit is a superposition of a bit, which means it has both values, 0 and 1, until someone measures that bit.

So theoretically, that's what allows quantum computers to solve problems that grow exponentially, that are really big.

We're still in the early stages, but if you think of an exponential growth problem like cracking encryption …

It can be done by a regular computer.

You can set up your laptop to crack.

It'll take like a thousand years or something, right?

Because you have to go through every single possible value.

So if you have 64 bits, that's like two to the 64 values, which is huge.

In fact, there's an old story about the Indian king and the wise man who played chess that illustrates this story of how big that number gets when you have exponential growth.

So there was a king who liked to play chess, and no one wanted to play chess with him anymore because he kept winning.

And finally, there's this wise man.

He's like, please play chess with me.

And the wise man says, okay, I'll play chess with you.

If I win, for the first square on the chessboard, you give me one grain of rice.

And then the second square on the chessboard, you double that, two grains of rice.

And you double that to four grains of rice and six grains of rice.

So we're doubling on each square, right?

The king's like, okay, sure.