This short tutorial provides an introduction to the Quantum Approximation Optimization Algorithm (QAOA). Specifically, how to use QAOA with the Simultaneous Perturbation Stochastic Approximation (SPSA) algorithm to solve the Max-Cut problem. All steps of the algorithm are explicitly shown and no theory or complex mathematics are used. The focus is entirely on setting up a practical implementation. Fully functional examples in both R and python (using Qiskit) are provided, both using roughly 100 lines of code.
@article{arxiv.2106.01578,
title = {Introductory Tutorial for SPSA and the Quantum Approximation Optimization Algorithm},
author = {Salonik Resch},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2106.01578},
year = {2021}
}