De-Quantising the Solution of Deutsch's Problem

Probably the simplest and most frequently used way to illustrate the power of quantum computing is to solve the so-called {\it Deutsch's problem}. Consider a Boolean function $f: \{0,1\} \to \{0,1\}$ and suppose that we have a (classical) black box to compute it. The problem asks whether $f$ is constant (that is, $f(0) = f(1)$) or balanced ($f(0) \not= f(1)$). Classically, to solve the problem seems to require the computation of $f(0)$ and $f(1)$, and then the comparison of results. Is it possible to solve the problem with {\em only one} query on $f$? In a famous paper published in 1985, Deutsch posed the problem and obtained a ``quantum'' {\em partial affirmative answer}. In 1998 a complete, probability-one solution was presented by Cleve, Ekert, Macchiavello, and Mosca. Here we will show that the quantum solution can be {\it de-quantised} to a deterministic simpler solution which is as efficient as the quantum one. The use of ``superposition'', a key ingredient of quantum algorithm, is--in this specific case--classically available.