Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 iii Paper 58 4 e Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
For , the preceding matrix becomesMultiplying it by gives . The sine and cosine addition identities then prove by induction thatFor , the first angle reaching the interval gives success at least one half. Its smallest integer iteration count isThe ceiling advances the angle by less than , so the chosen angle remains in that success interval. This is the first half-success time in Grover search. If near-certain rather than half success is desired, choose the nearest integer to ; its success is at least and the count is asymptotic to . Both exhibit the quadratic query improvement of amplitude amplification. Success oscillates, so further iterations past the first maximum are not automatically beneficial. The count presumes positive known (or known ); if no marked item exists, no number of iterations can produce one.