What kind of puzzles are bitcoin mining software trying to solve?

[kevinpaladin]

Hey there!

I am a noob in this field and so forgive me if my questions are stupid.
I can't understand this: Why is it needed to solve a puzzle inorder to generate a bitcoin? It makes no sense to me (just to me! no offence ).. Can anyone explain it in detail?

[firefop]

So it's not a puzzle (this is a simple way to explain it to an idiot).

It's an SHA256 Hash that is being generated. If you're interested in what the process is you can find refs. here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SHA-2

This idea is called 'proof of work' and it's how the bitcoin network prevents doublespending and builds the blockchain. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proof_of_work

[CIYAM]

Basically an SHA256 value for any given input is unpredictable so trying to find a result like this one (note the zeros at the start)

Code:

00000000916dd8861312f2cd94ac01310e15541e58df57d988f058eb3adcbf15

is not something that you can guess how to find quickly (it all depends upon the input string and how SHA256 mangles that data into a hash).

In Bitcoin's case the # of leading zeros is what is termed the "difficulty" and each miner creates a block header and then hashes this with a random number in order to find a hash with enough leading zeros (according to the current difficulty level).

Because there is no way to cheat to determine which random number will work you have to keep trying different numbers until you find one that does (thus the "proof of work").

HTH

[kevinpaladin]

So it's not a puzzle (this is a simple way to explain it to an idiot).

It's an SHA256 Hash that is being generated. If you're interested in what the process is you can find refs. here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SHA-2

This idea is called 'proof of work' and it's how the bitcoin network prevents doublespending and builds the blockchain. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proof_of_work

Thanks for making me feel that I am not an idiot anymore And thanks CIYAM for you explanation with example. Interested in knowing more about it!

Regards,
Kevin.

[firefop]

Thanks for making me feel that I am not an idiot anymore And thanks CIYAM for you explanation with example. Interested in knowing more about it!

Regards,
Kevin.

Ack. Sorry. I didn't mean to imply that you were and idiot... But some of us have been explaining this thing for so long that we settle on answers 'a 10 year old can understand' because when we're accurate and specific most peoples eyes just glaze-over.

I tend to use 'a complicated calculus problem' or very often I don't even mention proof of work anymore and just tell them 'basically its verifying transactions to collect the transaction fees'

[kevinpaladin]

Thanks for making me feel that I am not an idiot anymore And thanks CIYAM for you explanation with example. Interested in knowing more about it!

Regards,
Kevin.

Ack. Sorry. I didn't mean to imply that you were and idiot... But some of us have been explaining this thing for so long that we settle on answers 'a 10 year old can understand' because when we're accurate and specific most peoples eyes just glaze-over.

I tend to use 'a complicated calculus problem' or very often I don't even mention proof of work anymore and just tell them 'basically its verifying transactions to collect the transaction fees'

No issues friend!

Soduku.

Misspelled! Its sudoku. 

[Pope Awesome]

Maybe fixing the spelling was a puzzle. 

[kevinpaladin]

Maybe fixing the spelling was a puzzle. 

LOL