Pavan Jayasinha | Monthly Newsletter

👋 Hey ! 👋

Welcome back; if you're new here, I look forward to giving you the monthly pulse on what I've been up to. I spent most of this time learning new quantum algorithms while also working on a customer-side solution for Instacart, which I thought would be worth sharing. 
Focus of the month
⚛ QC programming: levelling up
Qiskit + Pavan = 💕

A month ago, I promised you that I'd buckle down and start my journey into quantum programming. And that's exactly what happened! I've familiarized myself with Qiskit (a quantum software development framework) to build some introductory quantum algorithms.

Looking back, the most rewarding part while learning these algorithms is when that last metaphorical piece clicks into the broader picture. The quantum teleportation algorithm, for example, was a difficult pill to swallow at first. However, when I sat down and went through the state evolution mathematically, the euphoric aha-moment followed! Lesson learned? Implementing strategies to elicit that aha-moment is key to accelerate learning.

Disclaimer: the teleportation algorithm teleports quantum information states, not physical objects. Sorry Star Trek fans 😔

For fellow QC nerds that want to see some of the algorithms I've learned:

  • Quantum full adder
  • Quantum teleportation algorithm
  • Bernstein-Vazirani algorithm with measurement error mitigation
  • Grover's search algorithm

As always, helpful resources will be linked below. 🙂
Check out those projects here
Jam packed learning

From November 7-28, IBM challenged 2000 people globally to a set of exercises that ranged in difficulty from beginner to expert. I'll be honest, some of these were really tough. After completing most of them, I can happily say that I'm now addicted to quantum challenges 😄 Why?

Reflecting on my experience, I've learned more about circuit development in a few days than the whole month I spent on it detailed above. It was intensive, but having an end-goal for each exercise forced me to somehow figure out a solution. Whether it be bouncing ideas off of others, or maniacal google searching, these challenges have taught me rudimentary mental models, to approach quantum circuit development. For that, I'm thankful to IBM. 🙏

If there's one project to showcase my work in this challenge, it would be the one linked below where I applied Grover's search algorithm to solve a satisfiability problem. Basically broke the 'lights out' puzzle game. 🤫 

In the coming month, I hope to expand on this project and implement a QRAM architecture to solve further exercises that I couldn't get to! 
Breaking the lights out board game
Content
Publication


One Try | QC Explained
Phase kickback and Bernstein-Vaz algorithm

Pick any random number. With the quantum algorithm detailed in this article, I'll show you how to guess that number in one try. This algorithm's backbone is a quantum phenomenon called phase kickback, so I indulge in that as well.
Playing around with Qiskit.ignis
A starter tutorial on measurement error mitigation

The intention of this tutorial is to provide a friendly approach to Qiskit.ignis for those that might have been intimidated by it beforehand. The dialogue walks through all of the blocks I had and how I overcame them to understand certain concepts.
Tackling problems for a $11B company
Improving the customer experience at Instacart 🥕

Three weeks ago, TKS (The Knowledge Society) opened the opportunity to tackle some real-world problems at Instacart. The crazy part is, if our solution is good enough, Instacart will actually implement it! Talk about impact. After forming a team, we were adamant about creating an effective solution. But a solution to what? 

The problem statement given to us by Instacart was vague ("improve the customer experience"), but it left the door open to a plethora of possible solutions. So we started thinking. 

After a few weeks, we decided to focus our solutions to tackle the fresh produce quality problem while also giving Instacart a rigorous action plan on how to expand into smaller stores. We think we got some great ideas and can't wait to submit them.

The pitch deck is due in a few days and I'll keep you updated on how it goes!
A picture of the team
The team (Pavan, Yogya, Dev)

Helpful Resources

Thought-provoking content:

Quantum computing resources:
What's next?
  • Learning more theory following the Qiskit global summer school material (stay tuned for Schor's algorithm and some QML with the VQE algorithm👀)

Quote I'm pondering...

“Greed is the fear of inner emptiness”                                                  -Osho

Thanks for tuning in,

Pavan
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Pavan Jayasinha

401 Bay Street, Toronto
ON M5H 2Y4 Canada

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