Quote from: cypherdoc on March 18, 2015, 05:29:15 PM

Quote from: klondike_bar on March 18, 2015, 01:21:58 PM

Quote from: cypherdoc on March 18, 2015, 10:46:31 AM

Quote from: chrisrico on March 18, 2015, 04:36:52 AM

Quote from: RoadStress on March 17, 2015, 02:59:29 AM

So you can have infinite and separated set of addresses at your own disposal based on the passphrase while having one single private key in the form of the seed? That's neat. Thank you.

That's not quite right. There's one mnemonic, that's the 24 word string. Combined with any (or no) passphrase, the mnemonic gets turned into the seed, and then the root private key. Each passphrase you use with the same mnemonic will generate a different root private key.

what's the correct way to visualize this? a tree with the root privkey at the top and a new branch extending downwards for each passphrase in a hierarchical tree?

picture it like bitcoin mining almost. The 24-word seed is like the list of transactions. The password (25th word of the seed) is like a nonce - any value will work, and can create millions of possibilities.

isn't each passphrase generated set of addresses a separate branch of the HD tree? however, it sounds like no further sub-branches can be built under each branch?

Each password with any given seed will generate a completely new master public and private keys. Think of it as a completely new tree.