post-merge epic: update pow page #7105
Conversation
jmcook1186
requested review from
samajammin,
wackerow,
corwintines,
pettinarip and
minimalsm
as code owners
github-actions
bot
added
content 🖋️
github-actions
bot
added
dependencies 📦
jmcook1186
removed
translation 🌍
There was a problem hiding this comment.
@jmcook1186 Left some thoughts. Feel free to push back if you think these updates are out-of-scope for the intended post-merge updates you're targeting.
|
|
||
| ## Proof-of-work and mining {#pow-and-mining} | ||
|
|
||
| Proof-of-work is the underlying algorithm that sets the difficulty and rules for the work miners do. Mining is the "work" itself. It's the act of adding valid blocks to the chain. This is important because the chain's length helps the network follow the correct Ethereum chain and understand Ethereum's current state. The more "work" done, the longer the chain, and the higher the block number, the more certain the network can be of the current state of things. | ||
| Proof-of-work is the underlying algorithm that sets the difficulty and rules for the work miners do on proof-of-work blockchains. Mining is the "work" itself. It's the act of adding valid blocks to the chain. This is important because the chain's length helps the network follow the correct fork of the blockchain. The more "work" done, the longer the chain, and the higher the block number, the more certain the network can be of the current state of things. |
There was a problem hiding this comment.
Similarly here, "mining" is just the act of finding the nonce that results in a block hash with an adequate number of leading binary zeros by brute-force hashing. By finding this nonce, it provide proof that the work was performed. I believe it would be more correct to say the underlying algorithm that adjusts the difficulty is the Nakamoto Consensus mechanism which uses PoW.
@jmcook1186 Thought on this?
There was a problem hiding this comment.
not sure - in Geth the difficulty calculation is part of the Ethash package - it's just a simple comparison between the change in time taken to mine a block relative to its parent and a threshold. To me it feels fine to describe it as part of PoW.
Co-authored-by: Paul Wackerow <[email protected]>
Description
Updates
developers/docs/consensus-mechanisms/pow/index.mdRelated Issue
#7075