[syhprum (OP)]

Progress on the development of quantum computers seems to be progressing as fast as the development of fusion power stations, would a simulation be possible to see what could be be done with one ?
   

[nicephotog]

For what little I know or understand of quantum computers I think it could, but as it suggests it would be a bit like ....   Could an Australopithecus born in 2020 be made to simulate a H.Sapiens ?
I once wanted to write a calculator that chunked calculations by human readable process methods because it allowed checking particularly for base arithmetic and adding symbols for base values.
Considerably meatier than the architecture to thread.
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https://www.scientificlinux.org/

[Bored chemist]

Inside the head of the person seeking funding for a quantum computer is a model of that computer.
Does that count as a simulation?

[nicephotog]

Inside the head of the person seeking funding for a quantum computer is a model of that computer.
Does that count as a simulation?

Modelling from the brain of a Homonid sounds like severe trouble, history has proven this
This one's from HAL 9000  -    youtube.com/watch?time_continue=35&v=1byycwl8qgc
And other views  -   youtube.com/watch?time_continue=12&v=SVW6SH2bjYQ
, something more concrete and proven would be ideal , for example a crocodile ! As fact , one form of not so prehistoric crocodile can be considered modern extinction because it was only thousands of years since it ceased among H.Sapiens and alike present crocodiles is near an oldest unchanged life form continuous, it has all the correct patterns emotivation drive by recognition and unlike the present survived creature, the leg length to match - much longer. Another good possibly cheaper and recommendable template to government to model would be a cockroach. Not only is it considered the oldest living creature continued from dawn of life but what it doesn't have for size and legs it makes up for in its size for economic approach whether a funding assessed government model of the thought and drive attributes and approach at success or a direct copy of the living machine.
A cockroach is possibly the most economic , government acceptable and proven approach to successful thinking on the planet, My cellophane Thai noodle packs attestify to the very fact with the numbers of destroyed behind my back inches from me but to the point it eats from the best ever produced for humans all the way to unspeakable muck for fodder.

The point, only gamblers require a quantum computer for lotto results, however dogs and horses to a lesser extent.
My bet is the whole idea was originally conceived by a gambler.

[evan_au]

Progress on the development of quantum computers seems to be progressing as fast as the development of fusion power stations

It's not clear how to compare two such different applications.

The (somewhat elusive) promise of quantum computers is that the size of the problem that can be addressed grows as the number of combinations of qubits. So a 4-qubit computer can process 2⁴ = 16 potential solutions at once (in theory).
- A 50 qubit computer (as claimed by Google) can address 2⁵⁰ solutions at once
- And a 301 qubit computer can address 2³⁰¹ ≈ 10¹⁰⁰ = a googol of solutions at once. This is more than the number of protons + neutrons in the universe.
        - A computer that could store 1 bit on every proton in the universe could not match a 301 qubit computer (in theory)

This exponential growth in states means that even linear growth in the number of qubits will eventually overtake a conventional computer (conventional computers are also growing exponentially, but at a lower rate).

The main problem with quantum computers is the fragility of the quantum states, and the need for quantum error-correcting codes.
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_error_correction

[nicephotog]

All the qubit problem is solving is the logic capacity of a single byte, the real problem is is it functional to do that. I heard a program on ABC Radio in Aust. around a month back said they made progress, the trouble in calling it that is a processor needs to make use of it in some physical terms.
If you understand "trees" in programming, a tree is the only way of storing concise different values at a level that can be obtained from one root point mathematically(a related location by coefficient like mapping). Although I would say using three separate bytes as one noted to the processor operation to denote setting may be better for simulus of a quantum computer, after that it's more how the processor instructions are setup to chunk the data, but it can hold three different values etc for what it operates on.

=== Super cradles are functional idea, economically lowering the price of RAM by buying bulk in some way gets more memory.
I thought the idea of quantum RAM was to lower size, it needs as functional a point to using it as storing.