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Letter: Getting to the bottom of the quantum world (3)

Published 14 May 2025

From Larry Stoter, The Narth, Monmouthshire, UK

In discussing quantum computing, the comparison always made is with digital computer efficiency. Numbers between 0 and 1023 can all be encoded at once with 10 qubits, while digital computers need 10 bits just to be able to encode any one of those numbers at a time. But what about analogue computing? Just one capacitor, for example, could encode any of the numbers 0 to 1023, depending on its state of charge, arguably more efficiently than its digital counterparts.

Analogue computers have a long history and have made many important contributions in various fields. I wonder what might have been achieved if the same money and effort put into digital and quantum computing had been invested in analogue computing.

Issue no. 3543 published 17 May 2025

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