Abstract:

The purpose of this expository article is to analyze the topics in Mathematics that should be covered at the undergraduate level to allow students majoring in Computer Science and Mathematical Engineering to face the study of Quantum Computing and compare the results of two different methods used at Universidad Francisco de Vitoria in Madrid over two consecutive academic years.

After analyzing how to explain the essentials of Linear Algebra, Algebra, Complex Analysis, Statistics and Probability Theory needed, we will compare the (unique, to our knowledge) experiences over these two years.

Quantum computers could provide an exponential speedup to hard computational problems. Undergraduate students in Mathematical Engineering and Computer Science should have some exposure to these topics during their university years. Our university is a pioneer in the teaching of Quantum Computing since the first year of university studies and the purpose of this article is to share the experience with instructors in the STEM fields.

Keywords:

Quantum computers, Quantum computing, Engineering skills, Complexity.