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Topic: Probability of Next Block Within 10 Minutes - page 2. (Read 3113 times)

legendary
Activity: 1400
Merit: 1013
It might be a good idea to also mention that the probability that 0 blocks are found within the next 30 minutes is 4.978%. Then maybe people would stop complaining when we get the occasional over 30-minute block.
You can also express that percentage as "on average, once every 25.1 days we should see 30 minutes with zero blocks found."
legendary
Activity: 2114
Merit: 1040
A Great Time to Start Something!
Wouldn't a number closer to 50% make sense for the 10 minute mark?
Of course not. 10 minutes is the mean, not the median. The median (the point where 50% are higher and 50% are lower) is 6 minutes and 56 seconds. It should be expected that the median will be much smaller than the mean because there is a lower bound to the block time (zero) but no upper bound. It is possible to have a block time to be 20 minutes longer than average, but it is obviously not possible for the block time to be 20 minutes shorter than average (because it would be less than zero). Thus there a few very long block times that aren't (and can't possibly be) matched by very short block times, and this skews the average.

Thank you for the details. I used to score really high on tests, but seem to have been dragged back towards the median.   Cheesy
vip
Activity: 1428
Merit: 1145
It's a Poisson process, with a mean of 10 minutes. So...

What is the probability that the next block will be found within 10 minutes from now?
63.212%

Or within 1 minute?
9.516%

Or 10 seconds?
1.653%

Or 1 second?
0.167%

legendary
Activity: 4522
Merit: 3183
Vile Vixen and Miss Bitcointalk 2021-2023
Wouldn't a number closer to 50% make sense for the 10 minute mark?
Of course not. 10 minutes is the mean, not the median. The median (the point where 50% are higher and 50% are lower) is 6 minutes and 56 seconds. It should be expected that the median will be much smaller than the mean because there is a lower bound to the block time (zero) but no upper bound. It is possible to have a block time to be 20 minutes longer than average, but it is obviously not possible for the block time to be 20 minutes shorter than average (because it would be less than zero). Thus there a few very long block times that aren't (and can't possibly be) matched by very short block times, and this skews the average.
hero member
Activity: 518
Merit: 500
Hodl!
It's a Poisson process, with a mean of 10 minutes. So...

What is the probability that the next block will be found within 10 minutes from now?
63.212%
....

Wouldn't a number closer to 50% make sense for the 10 minute mark?

Only in as much as it would be a lot easier to make Pi equal 3.0000000
legendary
Activity: 2114
Merit: 1040
A Great Time to Start Something!
It's a Poisson process, with a mean of 10 minutes. So...

What is the probability that the next block will be found within 10 minutes from now?
63.212%
....

Wouldn't a number closer to 50% make sense for the 10 minute mark?
newbie
Activity: 42
Merit: 0
Those longuns are easy to predict.... they happen about the once every few weeks that I decide to send a transaction Cheesy
newbie
Activity: 4
Merit: 0
... at near the peak of the distribution/time chart. could you save a ton of power and hash more effectively vs power. ...

What do you mean? I think you're wrong here.

The probability of you finding a block in any time period of fixed length should be independent of what everybody else does (if we ignore difficulty changes).
legendary
Activity: 1610
Merit: 1008
Forget-about-it
December 28, 2014, 10:55:47 PM
#12
Those longuns are easy to predict.... they happen about the once every few weeks that I decide to send a transaction Cheesy
you must send when I send.
rambling on the side:
I always thought it might be an interesting energy savings experiment to run a farm but only mine at near the peak of the distribution/time chart. could you save a ton of power and hash more effectively vs power. (of course you'd have to be solo mining and we're a bit past that heh, otherwise your just submitting less shares at an equal pace for the offtime)
hero member
Activity: 518
Merit: 500
Hodl!
December 28, 2014, 10:24:14 PM
#11
Those longuns are easy to predict.... they happen about the once every few weeks that I decide to send a transaction Cheesy
donator
Activity: 1617
Merit: 1012
December 28, 2014, 08:31:25 PM
#10
It might be a good idea to also mention that the probability that 0 blocks are found within the next 30 minutes is 4.978%. Then maybe people would stop complaining when we get the occasional over 30-minute block.
hero member
Activity: 568
Merit: 500
Smoke weed everyday!
December 28, 2014, 07:55:03 PM
#9
It's a Poisson process, with a mean of 10 minutes. So...

What is the probability that the next block will be found within 10 minutes from now?
63.212%

Or within 1 minute?
9.516%

Or 10 seconds?
1.653%

Or 1 second?
0.167%
Technically speaking the chances are somewhat better then this because additional miners have apparently been added to the network (net of miners that have been removed, in terms of hashrate). The above percentages would be correct in the event that the apparent hashrate was exactly the same as it was when the difficulty last changed
legendary
Activity: 1092
Merit: 1001
December 27, 2014, 01:18:37 PM
#8
It's a Poisson process, with a mean of 10 minutes. So...

What is the probability that the next block will be found within 10 minutes from now?
63.212%

Or within 1 minute?
9.516%

Or 10 seconds?
1.653%

Or 1 second?
0.167%

       
legendary
Activity: 4396
Merit: 4755
December 27, 2014, 12:16:21 PM
#7
It's a Poisson process, with a mean of 10 minutes. So...

What is the probability that the next block will be found within 10 minutes from now?
63.212%

Or within 1 minute?
9.516%

Or 10 seconds?
1.653%

Or 1 second?
0.167%

newbie
Activity: 56
Merit: 0
December 27, 2014, 08:22:12 AM
#6
It's a Poisson process, with a mean of 10 minutes. So...

What is the probability that the next block will be found within 10 minutes from now?
63.212%

Or within 1 minute?
9.516%

Or 10 seconds?
1.653%

Or 1 second?
0.167%

Now THAT is a killer response!

hero member
Activity: 490
Merit: 500
December 27, 2014, 06:30:31 AM
#5
Foxpup, that's a killer response Wink
full member
Activity: 180
Merit: 100
December 27, 2014, 05:07:32 AM
#4
+1 to Foxpup.  Smiley
legendary
Activity: 4522
Merit: 3183
Vile Vixen and Miss Bitcointalk 2021-2023
December 27, 2014, 05:06:06 AM
#3
It's a Poisson process, with a mean of 10 minutes. So...

What is the probability that the next block will be found within 10 minutes from now?
63.212%

Or within 1 minute?
9.516%

Or 10 seconds?
1.653%

Or 1 second?
0.167%
hero member
Activity: 812
Merit: 587
Space Lord
December 27, 2014, 04:45:29 AM
#2
Bitcoin's designed to put out a new block every ten minutes. And it's going good. Difficulty controls it and most of the blocks are mined 10 minutes apart.
There are a few exceptions when two blocks are found very fast, in a row, and that's just called luck.

There's no probability actually. It just averages around 10 minutes per block.

This could be an interesting read for you too: https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/extremely-long-blocks-what-are-the-chances-135982
full member
Activity: 180
Merit: 100
December 27, 2014, 04:40:41 AM
#1
What is the probability that the next block will be found within 10 minutes from now?

Or within 1 minute?
Or 10 seconds?
Or 1 second?
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