cypherdoc



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Re: My Bitcoin master thesis June 17, 2012, 04:14:25 PM #8 Quote from: Meni Rosenfeld on June 17, 2012, 03:43:03 PM Quote from: cypherdoc on June 17, 2012, 03:22:07 PM Quote from: Meni Rosenfeld on June 17, 2012, 03:19:51 PM Quote from: cypherdoc on June 17, 2012, 03:11:11 PM in the very first paragraph i find something i would've stated differently:



"It relies on cryptographic algorithms in order to prevent abuse of the system."



shouldn't it say "...cryptographic and hashing algorithms..."?



i'm not an academic in this particular area so correct me if i'm wrong.

"Cryptography" is a general field encompassing encryption, digital signatures, hashing and more.

"Cryptography" is a general field encompassing encryption, digital signatures, hashing and more.

my turn to nitpick. he used a small "c".

my turn to nitpick. he used a small "c".

"Cryptography" isn't capitalized when in the middle of a sentence.

hmmm, this is confusing.



"Hash functions" can also be defined as a broad category with "cryptographic hashing functions" as a subset.



if you use "Cryptography" as you defined it, i would think you'd capitalize it even in the middle of a sentence.



even more confusing is that in my discussions with theymos, as well as has been commented here on this forum by several prominent members, it's been said that Bitcoin does not rely on "encryption" per se. i always understood this to mean that the SHA-256 hashing algorithm effectively makes miners "guess" at the target solution which reduces the process down to mathematical probabilities vs. certain miners having insider information, ie, a "cryptographic key solution".



this is what makes Bitcoin "fair" to the masses that care to mine, like me, and would be analogous to the lotteries run by States. even the little guys line up around the block to buy their tickets despite knowing that larger players can buy up huge numbers of tickets for the ultimate prize. at least they have an equal chance on a ticket by ticket basis. hmmm, this is confusing."Hash functions" can also be defined as a broad category with "cryptographic hashing functions" as a subset. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hash_function if you use "Cryptography" as you defined it, i would think you'd capitalize it even in the middle of a sentence.even more confusing is that in my discussions with theymos, as well as has been commented here on this forum by several prominent members, it's been said that Bitcoin does not rely on "encryption" per se. i always understood this to mean that the SHA-256 hashing algorithm effectively makes miners "guess" at the target solution which reduces the process down to mathematical probabilities vs. certain miners having insider information, ie, a "cryptographic key solution".this is what makes Bitcoin "fair" to the masses that care to mine, like me, and would be analogous to the lotteries run by States. even the little guys line up around the block to buy their tickets despite knowing that larger players can buy up huge numbers of tickets for the ultimate prize. at least they have an equal chance on a ticket by ticket basis.