CNOT is a two-qubit physical state map; this first book uses only basis states. Exact arithmetic here means exact results for the stated model inputs; measured inputs still carry uncertainty and significant-figure limits.

highlighted = computed this step

Control off leaves zero-zero alone

CNOT is a basis-state permutation in this first book. With control off and target zero, nothing changes.

0,00,0\lvert 0,0\rangle\rightarrow \lvert 0,0\rangle
CNOT zero zeroControl zero leaves the target unchanged.state1 zerozero0 zeroone0 onezero0 oneonestate1 zerozero0 zeroone0 onezero0 oneoneCNOTgate

When the control is off, the target is unchanged

CNOT is introduced here only as a basis-state permutation. With control off, the target stays as it was.

control offtarget unchanged\text{control off} \Rightarrow \text{target unchanged}
CNOT control offThe checked output keeps the target unchanged.state0 zerozero1 zeroone0 onezero0 oneonestate0 zerozero1 zeroone0 onezero0 oneoneCNOTgate

When the control is on, the target flips

With control on, the target flips. This lesson does not claim Bell states or entanglement statistics.

control ontarget flips\text{control on} \Rightarrow \text{target flips}
CNOT control onThe checked output flips the target basis state.state0 zerozero0 zeroone1 onezero0 oneonestate0 zerozero0 zeroone0 onezero1 oneoneCNOTgate

Control on flips one back to zero

The fourth basis row also follows the same rule. Control one flips the target bit, so one-one maps to one-zero.

1,11,0\lvert 1,1\rangle\rightarrow \lvert 1,0\rangle
CNOT one oneControl one flips the target from one to zero.state0 zerozero0 zeroone0 onezero1 oneonestate0 zerozero0 zeroone1 onezero0 oneoneCNOTgate

The four basis rows define the map here

All four rows are checked as basis-state permutations. Superposition and entanglement are deferred to later books.

inputoutput0,00,00,10,11,01,11,11,0\begin{array}{c|c}\text{input}&\text{output}\\\lvert 0,0\rangle&\lvert 0,0\rangle\\\lvert 0,1\rangle&\lvert 0,1\rangle\\\lvert 1,0\rangle&\lvert 1,1\rangle\\\lvert 1,1\rangle&\lvert 1,0\rangle\end{array}
CNOT basis tableThe final row is the diagrammed case.state0 zerozero0 zeroone0 onezero1 oneonestate0 zerozero0 zeroone1 onezero0 oneoneCNOTgate