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Since conventional computers use bits, which can either be 1 or 0, can we simulate a 64-bit operating system on a quantum computer by restricting the values of the qubits to either 0 or 1, instead of 0, 1, and everything in between?

AJ_4real
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    I guess yes. But thats like using a rocketlauncher to open your window. It will work, but you wont like the result :D – SirPilan Feb 24 '19 at 19:43
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    This should probably be asked on [quantumcomputing.SE], although be sure to read their FAQ before – Adriaan Feb 24 '19 at 20:14

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Yes, in principle it's possible to simulate any classical computation on a sufficiently large quantum computer.

Any deterministic classical circuit can be implemented as an equivalent quantum circuit using Toffoli (CCNOT) gate - it can simulate classical gates NAND and FANOUT, which are universal for classical circuits.

Quantum computer can also simulate non-deterministic classical circuits by generating fair coin tosses using Hadamard gates followed by measurements (which gives 0 or 1 result with 50/50 probability).

So with the proper software you can simulate any classical computation. However, running a classical OS on a quantum computer would be rather pointless, since classical computers do this quite well already.

Mariia Mykhailova
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