Before you laugh at the title, yes, I really do mean that Despacito. The song. The one that crossed eight billion views. If you do not know it, feel free to listen to it here and know what the word means!
In the last episode (read here), we discussed two different but equivalent models of quantum computing: the circuit or gate model and the measurement based model, often called MBQC. Naturally, a question arises.
Are these the only ways to do quantum computing?
The answer is no. And today we explore a third model, one that is much closer to physics itself. To get there, we need to understand two key ideas first.
1. Solving a Problem by Reduction
Sometimes, instead of solving a problem directly we turn it into a different problem that is easier to deal with.
Imagine three friends: A, B, and C. A owes money to B, and B owes the same amount to C. One way to settle this is for A to pay B, and then B pays C. But clearly, A could just pay C directly. Same outcome, fewer steps.
This idea is called reduction. You reduce a problem to a simpler or more convenient one without changing the final answer.
