EXPLORATIONS IN QUANTUM COMPUTING FOR FINANCIAL APPLICATIONS

Quantum computers have the potential to increase the solution speed for many computational problems. This paper is a first step into possible applications for quantum computing in the context of computational finance. The fundamental ideas of quantum computing are introduced, followed by an exposition of the algorithms of Deutsch and Grover. Improved mean and median estimation are shown as results of Grover?s generalized framework. The algorithm for mean estimation is refined to an improved Monte Carlo algorithm. Quantum random number generation is also described.