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Topic: Difficulty, What is it? (Read 1505 times)

full member
Activity: 185
Merit: 100
October 09, 2010, 05:48:46 AM
#4
The easiest explanation: if you multiply the current difficulty by 2^32, you'll get the average number of hashes the network should solve to generate a valid block. If you divide this number by your hash speed you'll get the time required to generate a block by yourself.
legendary
Activity: 1246
Merit: 1014
Strength in numbers
October 08, 2010, 04:13:31 PM
#3
Can someone explain the difficulty to me?  Is it a linear or log unit?  I know that there is a minimum difficulty of 1, but what does a difficulty of "1" even mean?  Is there a maximum difficulty?

Linear. It takes the same power DIFFICULTY times longer to generate a block on average than when difficulty was at 1.
legendary
Activity: 1596
Merit: 1091
October 08, 2010, 03:36:19 PM
#2
Can someone explain the difficulty to me?  Is it a linear or log unit?  I know that there is a minimum difficulty of 1, but what does a difficulty of "1" even mean?  Is there a maximum difficulty?

According to the code,

    difficulty = minimum_best_target / current_best_target

bitcoin miners' proof of work is searching for a hash whose numeric value is below the current target.

These links have some more info:

http://www.bitcoin.org/wiki/doku.php?id=difficulty
http://www.bitcoin.org/wiki/doku.php?id=target
legendary
Activity: 1708
Merit: 1007
October 08, 2010, 03:20:57 PM
#1
Can someone explain the difficulty to me?  Is it a linear or log unit?  I know that there is a minimum difficulty of 1, but what does a difficulty of "1" even mean?  Is there a maximum difficulty?
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