Does prob. of finding a solution for a block depend on its contents at all?

eleuthria

legendary

Activity: 1750

Merit: 1007

Quote from: jwputrl on October 18, 2014, 07:40:15 AM

Thanks for reply ckolivas. Is this uncertainty you refer to because nobody knows for sure how sha256 actually behaves? So if a miner were to work that out it is possible they could select contents to increase chance of finding a solution, but if they don't they can't? Pls feel free to point me somewhere else so i can educate myself.

People do know how SHA256 behaves. What we don't know is if someone out there has discovered a way to shortcut/cheat the SHA256 process without the rest of the world finding out.

Spartan_Miner

newbie

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I noticed that when that BearWhale did that massive sell-off, duration times went up in a big way. Was there a relation, or simply a coincidence? (I don't believe in coincidences)

Matt

jwputrl

newbie

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Merit: 0

Thanks for reply ckolivas. Is this uncertainty you refer to because nobody knows for sure how sha256 actually behaves? So if a miner were to work that out it is possible they could select contents to increase chance of finding a solution, but if they don't they can't? Pls feel free to point me somewhere else so i can educate myself.

-ck

legendary

Activity: 4088

Merit: 1631

Ruu \o/

No one can know with absolute certainty, and it is possible there is a variation depending on the input, but so far the evidence has pointed to it making absolutely no difference what the input is as to the chance of finding a block.

jwputrl

newbie

Activity: 14

Merit: 0

Am I right in thinking that a miner will have the same chance of finding a solution for a block, whatever transactions (or anything else) it contains?

I'm saying this as I assume it doesn't matter what the input into the hash is, the chances of getting a solution are the same, for a given difficulty level.

Thanks

Topic: Does prob. of finding a solution for a block depend on its contents at all? (Read 1238 times)