Level 1, Curious

Computational basis

These are the two states a usual measurement is built to distinguish, the state certain to read 0 and the state certain to read 1. The puzzles finish on this pair, and a Hadamard before the click turns the reading into one along the x axis.

The computational basis is the pair of states labelled 0 and 1 that a measurement is usually built to distinguish. Other arrangements exist, and a Hadamard placed before the measurement is the everyday way to read along the x axis of the Bloch sphere, between |+⟩ and ->.

Keith calls this pair the normal way, as if the others were dialects. Malcolm calls it one arrangement among several, and then uses it for the puzzles, because a puzzle needs a finish line everyone can see.

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