Algorithm

Shor's Algorithm

Problem: factor large integers by reducing factoring to period finding.

Run interference demo

Expected output

noiseperiodnoise

The simulator demo shows interference, one ingredient in making patterns visible.

Core intuition

Find a repeating pattern in modular powers, then use classical math to extract factors.

Visual circuit

Full Shor needs modular arithmetic, phase estimation, and QFT.

Significance

A large fault-tolerant version would threaten RSA and related public-key cryptography.

Limit

The current DSL cannot express full Shor; this page links to interference and phase building blocks.

Intuition DSL

# Interference: H then H returns to |0>
qubits 1
H 0
H 0
MEASURE 0
Run interference demo

Challenge

What is the quantum part of Shor mainly trying to find?