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Mathematics

Quantum Algorithms and Shor's Algorithm

Quick fact

Shor's algorithm can factor an integer in polynomial time, whereas the best-known classical algorithms take sub-exponential time — for a 2048-bit number, this is the difference between seconds and billions of years.

Why this is interesting

You've probably heard that quantum computers can break encryption, but how can a machine that operates on probabilities instead of bits achieve such a feat?