Yanofsky Scores Big with Best-Selling Quantum Computing Text

Associate Professor of Computer and Information Science Noson S. Yanofsky has scored a rather big hit in the publishing world.

Yanofsky co-authored a textbook that is creating a stir in the computer science community. Those familiar with the book, Quantum Computing for Computer Scientists, say it can be read and easily understood by undergraduate students, even by those who possess very little in the way of higher math skills.

The hardcover book was published in August 2008 by Cambridge University Press and has since sold almost 1,000 copies. "That’s a lot in the world of academic publishing," Yanofsky notes.

"He’s one of the best young professors we have in the department," says Professor Yedidyah Langsam, chairperson of the Computer and Information Science Department. "His classes are always full, and he’s very popular with the students."

Yanofsky explains that the idea for the book came about when he was assigned to teach an undergraduate quantum computing course. "All the texts that I found were too hard for my students," he explains. "So I contacted a friend of mine—Mirco Mannucci, then of George Mason University—and we agreed to write a textbook."

The two composed a table of contents and then set about writing the book, with each man taking responsibility for writing alternate chapters. The result has caused a minor sensation among both physicists and computer scientists.

"The book has the potential to fill a void that needs to be filled: to bring the excitement of quantum computing to undergraduate computing majors, especially those with modest math backgrounds," wrote Stephen Fenner, an associate professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of South Carolina, in a review on Amazon.com.

Another Amazon reviewer called Yanofsky’s work "an exceptionally well written and accessible textbook" while yet another wrote that the book "gently eases computer scientists into the hybrid world of continuous qubits [quantum bits] and discrete measurements from the ground up."

Says Yanofsky: "Quantum mechanics is the physics of very small things. A lot of very weird things can go on in that world. For instance, in quantum mechanics objects can be in more than one position at the same time."

Quantum computing takes advantage of this phenomenon, which is called "superposition," to make computers work better, explains Yanofsky.

"It’s all theoretical so far," he notes. "But when we’re able to do it, computers will be much faster."