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by abdullahkhalids 839 days ago
I will chime in to say that I have several times taught a course on Quantum Computing using an Scott Aaronson type approach and a course on Quantum Mechanics in the traditional way. With some overlap of students.

The gap in understanding between the students in the two courses is humongous. Both sets of students would need to essentially sit through half a semester of the classes of the other course to understand what they are saying.

The QC students don't know Schrodinger's equation at all, let alone how to solve it for the quantum harmonic oscillator or for the hydrogen atom (without which I agree you don't know QM). And the QM students know what Hamiltonian dynamics look like, but little about unitary dynamics.