Bitcoin Forum
November 09, 2024, 07:15:03 AM *
News: Latest Bitcoin Core release: 28.0 [Torrent]
 
   Home   Help Search Login Register More  
Pages: « 1 [2]  All
  Print  
Author Topic: Mining Probability Calculation and market predictions.  (Read 17127 times)
ribuck
Donator
Hero Member
*
Offline Offline

Activity: 826
Merit: 1060


View Profile
February 24, 2011, 11:45:15 AM
 #21

If you know the proverb "A watched pot never boils", it also applies to Bitcoin generation.

Don't go checking for generated blocks. Then, occasionally, when you least expect it you will be delightfully surprised to see a new block maturing.
Grinder
Legendary
*
Offline Offline

Activity: 1284
Merit: 1001


View Profile
February 24, 2011, 11:46:08 AM
 #22

It's like they say in poker, superstition means bad luck. It causes you to make bad decisions, which lowers your chance of winning. The time you spend doing these things wastes cycles, and that lowers your chance of solving a block.
casascius
Mike Caldwell
VIP
Legendary
*
Offline Offline

Activity: 1386
Merit: 1140


The Casascius 1oz 10BTC Silver Round (w/ Gold B)


View Profile WWW
February 24, 2011, 01:47:47 PM
 #23

If you know the proverb "A watched pot never boils", it also applies to Bitcoin generation.

Don't go checking for generated blocks. Then, occasionally, when you least expect it you will be delightfully surprised to see a new block maturing.

The following thought has crossed my mind:  "Maybe the SHA256 algorithm isn't as truly random as is thought, and there is some sort of bias against results with so many zeroes in the beginning, and the total hash power on the network is greater than estimated, and mine is therefore a smaller proportion than I thought".

Not that I seriously suspect this to be the case...

Companies claiming they got hacked and lost your coins sounds like fraud so perfect it could be called fashionable.  I never believe them.  If I ever experience the misfortune of a real intrusion, I declare I have been honest about the way I have managed the keys in Casascius Coins.  I maintain no ability to recover or reproduce the keys, not even under limitless duress or total intrusion.  Remember that trusting strangers with your coins without any recourse is, as a matter of principle, not a best practice.  Don't keep coins online. Use paper or hardware wallets instead.
Raulo
Full Member
***
Offline Offline

Activity: 238
Merit: 100


View Profile
February 24, 2011, 02:19:27 PM
 #24

The following thought has crossed my mind:  "Maybe the SHA256 algorithm isn't as truly random as is thought, and there is some sort of bias against results with so many zeroes in the beginning, and the total hash power on the network is greater than estimated, and mine is therefore a smaller proportion than I thought".

Not that I seriously suspect this to be the case...

There is no known bias in sha256.

The problem is that you have to have tens of thousands of blocks found to be within 1% of theoretical value. Even after 100 blocks, there is 17% probablility of finding 10% less blocks than the average value. With 10000 blocks found, you have 16% of getting 99% of the theoretical value. Every time you double your theoretical blocks number, you have sqrt(2) less variance.

I run a modified miner that prints all hashes with difficulty one. And after collecting more than 200k of such results, it agrees with the printed hashrate to less than 0.2%. Imagine running this experiment with the current difficulty.

1HAoJag4C3XtAmQJAhE9FTAAJWFcrvpdLM
Cryptoman
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Activity: 726
Merit: 500



View Profile
February 24, 2011, 03:46:15 PM
 #25

I've been following my mining results over the last month, and at any given point in time the actual blocks found has varied from a low of 70% to a high of 132% of expected return.  It's currently at 95%.  This is with 14 GPUs and CPUs and a lucky head start.  If you have fewer devices, you can expect the variance to be higher.

"A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history." --Gandhi
caston
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Activity: 756
Merit: 500



View Profile WWW
May 14, 2011, 02:22:59 PM
 #26

Are there things I can do to increase my probability of finding a block?

bitcoin BTC: 1MikVUu1DauWB33T5diyforbQjTWJ9D4RF
bitcoin cash: 1JdkCGuW4LSgqYiM6QS7zTzAttD9MNAsiK

-updated 3rd December 2017
dikidera
Full Member
***
Offline Offline

Activity: 126
Merit: 100


View Profile
May 14, 2011, 07:12:16 PM
 #27

Unless you buy more cards, no.
caston
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Activity: 756
Merit: 500



View Profile WWW
May 14, 2011, 11:36:19 PM
 #28

But what affect does the quantity and quality of your connections have on probability?

bitcoin BTC: 1MikVUu1DauWB33T5diyforbQjTWJ9D4RF
bitcoin cash: 1JdkCGuW4LSgqYiM6QS7zTzAttD9MNAsiK

-updated 3rd December 2017
Pages: « 1 [2]  All
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Powered by SMF 1.1.19 | SMF © 2006-2009, Simple Machines Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!