In 1994, mathematician Peter Shor introduced a quantum-computing algorithm that could reduce the time it takes to find the prime factors of large numbers from billions of years using a ...

In 2006, Ralf Schützhold and Gernot Schaller at the Dresden Technical University in Germany worked out an adiabatic algorithm to factorise a number using a pool of qubits.

A million-dollar puzzle relating to prime numbers could be tackled using only a mid-sized quantum computer. There is a race to find ever bigger primes , but no way to predict when the next one ...

Using this system, the researchers created 21 different algorithms that could perform tasks like recognizing multiples of three, electing a leader, generating patterns, and counting to 63.