What is Computing: Definition and 730 Discussions

Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes and development of both hardware and software. It has scientific, engineering, mathematical, technological and social aspects. Major computing disciplines include computer engineering, computer science, cybersecurity, data science, information systems, information technology and software engineering.

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  1. StevieTNZ

    Canadian PM 'Explain's' Quantum Computing

    In my opinion, Justin Trudeau is the epitome of what a Prime Minister should be. Here, in this video, Justin talks about quantum computing:
  2. J

    Studying Quantum Information and Computing

    I have just finished my 2nd year of undergraduate study, which had the first pass of QM in it. I want to do a PhD in Quantum information/computing. What can I learn in my own time to get me closer to understanding QM information/computing? Currently I only know what we covered in lectures, and...
  3. Han_Cholo

    I Computing the normal scalar component of acceleration

    Hi, I have this math problem where I need to find the scalar component of acceleration at a given time under certain conditions. Usually these problems aren't bad for me, but this one has left me scratching my head. Its giving me ||a|| = 4 and (aT)(T) = 5i +5j -k I have the formula aN =...
  4. Israel Eydelson

    How do we simulate time flow in video games? EE/PHYS

    Hi Everyone, I am very ignorant and uneducated but I have a few questions about a difficult thought experiment. 'How does time flow in a video game/simulation or even in our imagination in relativistic terms?' Let's say a processor operating at 4.2 Ghz, 42 billion instructions per second at...
  5. N

    MHB Computing height given shadow length and angle of elevation

    Simple geometry can compute the height of an object from the object's shadow length and shadow angle using the formula: tan(angleElevation) = treeHeight / shadowLength. Given the shadow length and angle of elevation, compute the tree height. #include <iostream> #include <cmath> using namespace...
  6. A

    Programs What is Best Combo for Quantum Computing? (EE, Physics, CS)

    To what degree should I study each of these fields in order to be prepared for a career in quantum computing R&D? Electrical Engineering Computer Science Physics I plan to major in all three topics, but with which program(s) should I pursue higher education? I realize computer engineering is...
  7. unknown1111

    A Computing the pole mass from a given MS mass?

    Given a Yukawa coupling as a function of scale and a vev, how can I compute the corresponding pole mas? Understandably most paper explain how from a measured pole mass one can compute the running mass, for example, Eq. 19 here. However I want to compute the pole mass from the running mass. In...
  8. Thomas Kundera

    Computing the shape of the Earth as seen by a camera

    AS: If this is not the right place to ask this question, please let me know where I could try. Thanks. AS: I had to validate the fact I used the template to post my assignment, however I didn't (but it wouldn't post otherwise - btw it's not an "assignment"). Hello everyone. I need help with a...
  9. Q

    Need help computing force of a defibrillator

    Homework Statement In a TV-show, an inexperienced doctor touches the electrodes of a defibrillator and gets thrown across the room. For a moment assuming that all the energy (and only the energy) from the defibrillator goes into tossing him around, what is the maximum height above ground he...
  10. youssef99

    Schools How can I pursue a career in quantum computing through college?

    Hello I have recently taken interest in physics and mostly Quantum computing and i was wondering what is the best way of tackling that field . Is it to have a major in Computer Science and possibly a major/minor in physics? or to aim for colleges that have specific classes of quantum...
  11. andrex904

    Computing Differential Decay of W Boson at Rest

    Hi, I'm trying to compute the differential decay of W boson at rest $$W^+ \rightarrow e^+ \nu_e$$ where the boson has fixed spin along z axis, and so specific cirular polarization. Using Feynman rules i get...
  12. FrancescoS

    Computing propagators with derivative interaction

    Hi guys, I'm working with this interaction Lagrangian density ##\mathcal{L}_{int} = \mathcal{L}_{int}^{(1)} + \mathcal{L}_{int}^{(2)} + {\mathcal{L}_{int}^{(2)}}^\dagger = ia\bar{\Psi}\gamma^\mu\Psi Z_\mu +ib(\phi^\dagger\partial_\mu \phi - \partial_\mu\phi^\dagger \phi)Z^\mu,## with ##...
  13. Ackbach

    MHB Quantum Computing: Change of Basis

    This is Exercise 2.20 in Nielsen and Chuang's Quantum Computation and Quantum Information, on page 71. Suppose $A'$ and $A''$ are matrix representations of an operator $A$ on a vector space $V$ with respect to two different orthonormal bases, $|v_i\rangle$ and $|w_i\rangle$. Then the elements...
  14. Ackbach

    MHB Quantum Computing: Positive Operators are Hermitian

    Exercise 2.24 on page 71 of Nielsen and Chuang's Quantum Computation and Quantum Information asks the reader to show that a positive operator is necessarily Hermitian. There is a hint given; namely, that you first show an arbitrary operator can be written $A=B+iC$, where $B$ and $C$ are...
  15. S

    Quantum Computing: Get Started as an Undergrad

    Hello, Am an undergraduate student of physics(hons) and want to work on Quantum Computing in future. Can anybody please suggest how I should go about it? Thanks in advance
  16. P

    Setting up a server for scientific computing

    Hello everyone, I have a cluster computing that I am going to be setting up for scientific computing. I have never done this before and I was wondering, on a server what kind of operating system would be approiate to place on the cluster? As in, would a desktop or server operating system be...
  17. B

    Quantum Good self study books for physics of quantum computing

    Hello everyone, I'm an undergraduate double majoring in physics and math. I have one year left after this one, then I plan to go to grad school for theoretical physics (not sure what field yet). My professor keeps suggesting the physics side of quantum computing as a good career route and I'm...
  18. Ackbach

    MHB Matrices Often Used in Quantum Computing

    I am beginning a study I have long wanted to engage in: quantum computing. This is a field lying at the intersection of mathematics, physics, computer science, and electrical engineering - all topics I studied, to varying levels. From time to time, I plan on posting notes and summaries that...
  19. A

    Quantum Cosmology and Quantum Computing

    Hello All, I've just recently read David Deutsch and Michael Lockwood article about Time Travel of 1994 in Scientific American.They stated,that although among the physicists Everett's theory remains controversial,it has no alternatives in Quantum Cosmology and Quantum Computing.Is it really...
  20. S

    Quantum Computing: Explaining the Number System & Its Power

    I have seen other posts here on PF and I have done some internet research. In what I have found so far it is hard to get a plain English answer around the number system that is used in quantum computing. A lot of references are made to binary with a superposition. Is there a way to simple way...
  21. D

    Quantum Computing presentation ideas

    Hey everyone, I'm sorry if this is not the right place to ask this, but here it goes: I have to do a presentation on a topic on quantum computing. Does anyone know any cool doable topics? We have been working through Ballentine's quantum mechanics book, to give you an idea of the level. Thanks!
  22. K

    How Has Technology Transformed Traditional Physics Calculations?

    Let me introduce myself. I am Kevin Luxford. I graduated in Science, majoring in Physics, at Canterbury University, New Zealand, in 1963. I subsequently graduated in Engineering (Electrical) from the same university in 1966. A year or so ago I had the opportunity to tour the Australian...
  23. Domenico94

    A What is quantum computing research mostly focused on?

    What is quantum computing research mostly focused on? I mean, is it mostly about a physical point of view ( Like building better quantum transistor, or better quantum diodes, or, for example, using entalgment effect, to achieve better purposes), or is it mostly focused with quantum architectures...
  24. Estartha

    Computing the Isospin of the Deuteron

    Homework Statement The deuteron is mostly a bound state of a proton and neutron with orbital angular momentum L=0 and spin S=1. To a good approximation we can neglect the proton-neutron mass difference and electromagnetic interactions, and treat the proton and neutron as two isospin components...
  25. A

    Does Quantum Computing requires MWI?

    Hello all, On Cosmology webstie I found the article about Time Travel,Uncertainty Principle and Many Worlds. Here is the quote: "DeWitt’s many-worlds interpretation of Everett’s work, posits that there may be a split in the combined observer–object system, the observation causing the splitting...
  26. Robin_Shorrosh

    Exploring Quantum Computing: Making a Qubit with Josephson Junctions

    I am working on a project for our local science fair and decided on researching quantum computers. (This is what my focus will be in college.) Though, I expect to work on this far past the time allotted for that. I would like to build a superconductor based qubit using Josephson Junctions. The...
  27. G

    Cloud Computing for Complex Scientific Computations - Free Trial Available!

    Hi. I am doing some complex computations using c, c++, matlab, python. It is very slow on a conventional PC. I heard, there is a way to do scientific computations remotely. Such that I could sort of get an access to the remote advanced PC, and perform computation remotely there. And then...
  28. S

    Quantum Computing and Math prequisities

    Hello, I am a Physics undergraduate, currently beginning my third (out of four) year of studies. I have already taken courses about Real and Complex Analysis, Linear Algebra, ODEs and PDEs (for Maths), Classical Mechanics (Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formalism), Electromagnetism, Special...
  29. A

    Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle in quantum computing

    My question is how does the uncertainty principle relate to quantum computers? Does it hinder the theoretical production of a quantum computer?
  30. M

    Scientific Computing vs Applied Math at UMN

    I'm graduating this year with a B.S in Computational Physics (the difference is the second semester upper division physics courses aren't required, and are replaced with a year of numerical analysis and a CS minor. But I took the 2nd semester physics back when I was a physics major anyways) and...
  31. C

    Computing osculating orbital elements

    Good afternoon, I wonder if someone can help me in a small doubt. I'm trying to calculate the orbital parameters of some solar system bodies. It's quite easy knowing their positions and velocities. But my question is this: these two components, position and velocity, must they be heliocentric...
  32. K

    Fortran [Fortran 77] Subroutine for computing a global spherical har

    Greetings, I want to ask if there is any subroutine for computing a global spherical harmonic reference field. I read journal and they say it exists, I hope we can share information regarding this subject. Thank you in advance.
  33. S

    GAMESS computing and quantum chemistry

    Hi everyone, this isn't homework problem but something i would like to study and i am currently interested into. So how to start, this problem belongs more to quantum chemistry but i haven't found the topic in chemistry part of this site. I am learning to compute with program GAMESS but since...
  34. Y

    XAND Gate: Is it Real or Just a Rumor?

    I've been reading Code: The Hidden Langauge of Computer Hardware and Software by Charles Petzold, and he described the 5 basic gates (AND, OR, NAND, NOR, & XOR) with extreme clarity. In the chapter about adding machines, he described that we needed a gate that relays only when it receives a 0...
  35. Rya26

    Undergrad Applied Math + Computer Science or Computing

    I am currently considering either a BSc (Applied Math and Computer Science) or BSc(Computing) at a distance learning university called UNISA. From what I can see the former is the one I think would be best as it has the best math courses between the two(Computing only has Linear...
  36. V

    MHB Computing joint cumulative distribution function

    With X having the exponential $(\lambda)$ distribution and $Y = X^3$, how do I compute the joint cumulative distribution function? Here is how far I've come: $F(x,y) = P(X ≤ x, Y ≤ y) = P(X ≤ x, x^3 ≤ y) = P(X ≤ x, X ≤ y^{1/3}) = P(X ≤ min(x, y^{1/3})$, $f_x(x) = \lambda e^{-\lambda x}$$ for...
  37. J

    Difficulty computing second derivative value in SHM problem

    Homework Statement The displacement of a machine is given by the simple harmonic motion as x(t) = 5cos(30t)+4sin(30t). Find the amplitude of motion, and the amplitude of the velocity. Homework Equations x''(t) = -4500cos(30t)-3600sin(30t) The Attempt at a Solution [/B] I should note that...
  38. C

    Parallel computing, AIs and the cloud

    The setting strongly require rather unimpressive processors and not high enough demand to create multiple processors. On the other hand there would be clearly a big need for computation power. The solution that I can think of is going simple. In case of devices requiring little computation power...
  39. T

    Computing the standard deviation in y

    Hi, I've made a "probability" histogram for my data and it's based on 14000 datapoints in total, BUT each bin is not the same (e.g. bin 1 might be composed on 200 total datapoints while bin 50 is only 3 data points). You can find it in image 1. Now, based on those relative frequencies, I...
  40. Ryan_m_b

    Effect on efficiency when computing at lower energies

    Recently I've been in a discussion with someone online who claimed that the efficiency of a computer with regards to energy is not a linear relationship. I assumed that if you were to halve the power going into a computer chip (assuming it was designed to deal with that and wouldn't just turn...
  41. J

    Computing the order of n-folded automorphisms

    I'd like to find ##\operatorname{aut}^2 \mathbb{Z}_n^*## and would first like to just compute it's order. However, I'm pretty sure in general ##\operatorname{aut}\mathbb{Z}_n^*## is non-abelian so can't apply or extend the formula for computing ##\big|\operatorname{aut}\mathbb{Z}_n^*\big|## to...
  42. WannabeNewton

    Computing Entanglement Entropy of CFTs in the Large-c Limit

    Consider the problem of computing the entanglement entropy of two CFTs in the thermofield double state on identical finite intervals in 1+1 dimensions. The Euclidean path integral is then equivalent to computing the 2-point twist correlator on a torus. Given a central charge ##c##, does anyone...
  43. T

    Computing Cylinder Pressure from Temperature Trace

    I'm just trying to put together a very basic engine model with extremely limited combustion. Basically, I am modeling isentropic compression, combustion (using LHV to calculate the delta T), and isentropic expansion. At the moment, I am calculating a peak cylinder temperature under motoring of...
  44. B

    Need help programming an Orbital Simulator

    Homework Statement Hey, so basically I'm doing Advanced Higher Computing Science at school (It's a Scottish qualification), and I need to build an orbital simulator in VB.Net 2008 (nothing too fancy), but I'm having issues planning it all out. I'm only going to have one planet orbiting a star...
  45. M

    Short method for computing this?

    suppose a side of an equation : 26q+1 , and i want the least positive integer value for q that makes this side of equation divisible by 7, is there any short method to do this ?
  46. F

    Good Books on Quantum Computing and Quantum Mechanics

    Hello guys, I will be starting my M.S Program in Solid State Electronics and was also curious about looking into quantum computing/superconductors. So can you guys suggest introductory levels books on quantum computing and and superconductors? I have an okay background in Physics (just...
  47. C

    Quantum Computing Explained in 10 Sentences

    Can anyone please explain the theory of Quantum Computing in just 10 sentences?
  48. A

    Physics Career in quantum computing

    Hi. I am an undergraduate physics student and I really like the field of quantum computing. Can someone please tell me how good are the opportunities to work and research in this field? As I understand, there are not many places that do research in quantum computers as compared to something like...
  49. K

    Can a Computer Recognize a Paradox?

    Simple question: Can a computer be taught to recognize a paradox? This assumes the computer has no cognizant reasoning or "self awareness". It is a plot device used in a lot of science fiction, that the intrepid "flawed" human hero defeats the computer or robot with a simple paradox making it...
  50. 1

    Computing Cherenkov angle when only knowing n?

    Homework Statement If all we know is that the media is 1.001, how can we compute the Cherenkov angle and threshold momentum of electrons,muons, pions, and kaons?Homework Equations I know that cos(theta_c) = 1/beta*n, where beta = v_p/c and n=c/v_em, where v_p is the particle velocity and v_em...
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