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Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Quantum Information Science I, Part 1

Massachusetts Institute of Technology via edX

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Overview

This course is part of a three-course series that provides an introduction to the theory and practice of quantum computation. We cover:

  • the physics of information processing
  • quantum logic
  • quantum algorithms including Shor's factoring algorithm and Grover's search algorithm
  • quantum error correction
  • quantum communication and key distribution  

This course will help you establish a foundation of knowledge for understanding what quantum computers can do, how they work, and how you can contribute to discovering new things and solving problems in quantum information science and engineering.

The three-course series comprises:

  • 8.370.1x: Foundations of quantum and classical computing – quantum mechanics, reversible computation, and quantum measurement
  • 8.370.2x: Simple quantum protocols and algorithms – teleportation and superdense coding, the Deutsch-Jozsa and Simon’s algorithm, Grover’s quantum search algorithm, and Shor’s quantum factoring algorithm
  • 8.370.3x: Foundations of quantum communication – noise and quantum channels, and quantum key distribution

Prior knowledge of quantum mechanics is helpful but not required. It is best if you know some linear algebra.

This course has been authored by one or more members of the Faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Its educational objectives, methods, assessments, and the selection and presentation of its content are solely the responsibility of MIT. MIT gratefully acknowledges major support for this course, provided by IBM Research. This course on quantum information science is a collective effort to further advance knowledge and understanding in quantum information and quantum computing.

For more information about MIT’s Quantum Curriculum, visit quantumcurriculum.mit.edu.

Syllabus

Week 1: quantum mechanics
Week 2: reversible computation
Week 3: quantum measurement

Taught by

Isaac Chuang and Peter Shor

Reviews

1.5 rating, based on 2 Class Central reviews

Start your review of Quantum Information Science I, Part 1

  • Guidopaoluzicusani
    Totally disappointing... Prof. Shor is not up to his fame, and MIT below its par. Video are useless at best, otherwise only confusing. There is not lecture notes, lectures quiz are 1 shot , no worked solutions; Not enough homework... Yes: is a graduate level course, so what? No reason it must be rubbish. It just doesn't help following it. I ended up reading a textbook, that I bought before for another course, and reading up lecture notes from Berkeley and Caltech similar courses and watching other video sources (NPTEL, PIRSA) . Course only helped in giving me deadlines.
  • Anonymous
    I can rate this course at 2 stars (early 2018 session), and only because I had some prior knowledge of the subject. Despite this, the lectures left me confused, mostly due to sudden logical jumps in derivations, and also due to small mistakes (the l…

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