Post
Topic
Board Bitcoin Discussion
Re: Bitcoin puzzle transaction ~32 BTC prize to who solves it
by
DannyHamilton
on 06/01/2016, 03:04:15 UTC
Unfortunately the function will not predict the 41st key.

No, but (depending on how you define "close") I'll bet I can get you close to the 41st key.  Specifically, I'm nearly certain that I can find you a formula that will result in a value that is less than 2n-1 * 0.5 (which I think would be 2n-2) away from the actual private key.  So for the 41st key I can get you a value that will be within 239 of the actual key (with a 50% chance that my value is actually within 238 and a 25% chance that my value is within 237).

While I'm being truthful here, those who are aware of the ranges that the random numbers fall between will probably notice the obviousness in my statement.