> If we are permitting this (headline style) to be called a "quantum solution" (to a non quantum problem), should we expect and brace for a torrent of "quantum solutions" to previously impossible problems? Are these meaningful?
The paper does something meaningful with its solution - it constructs an "impossible" error-correcting code that you can use if you have a quantum channel. That's not really practical to use yet, but one could imagine one day e.g. sending messages through space slightly more efficiently.
Thank you, I can see why this could actually become practical. I was prematurely wincing at what I thought was watered down use of the word solution but that's just pedantry on my part. Cheers.
That's okay. Euler wasn't trying to arrange these army officers for any sort of practical purpose, the whole point of the puzzle is an exercise in mathematics. So it's mathematically interesting that the puzzle cannot be solved in a conventional manner, but it's also interesting that it can be solved by applying quantum concepts. Interesting research like this is the whole point of Euler's puzzles.
But yeah I guess it's a disappointment to all those army generals who were hoping for a way to arrange their officers in a 6x6 square according to Euler's constraints. The use of quantum ranks may have deleterious effects on battlefield effectiveness.
> So it's mathematically interesting that the puzzle cannot be solved in a conventional manner, but it's also interesting that it can be solved by applying quantum concepts.
I guess the question was: Is the "quantum officers puzzle" the same puzzle as the one proposed by Euler or a variant?
If they're not the same, it's not a "quantum solution" but "a solution to a quantum variant". That can be interesting on its own (with proposals made in the discussions here), it's just that "Yeehaw, we solved something for the first time in 243 years With Quantum[tm]" seems to be the wrong take away (although it might mean the next round of public funding)
The paper does something meaningful with its solution - it constructs an "impossible" error-correcting code that you can use if you have a quantum channel. That's not really practical to use yet, but one could imagine one day e.g. sending messages through space slightly more efficiently.