Thank you... & what is the difference between public key & private key?? There is an "Address", a "Public key", & a "Private key" I do not understand the "Public key" part
Public key is the number that starts with "02" "03" or "04", it is an encoding of the bytes that are shared publicly along with the "Private key" bytes which are encoded in alphanumeric character starting with "5", "K" or "L".
Normally in other (non-cryptocurrency) applications, the public key and private key are mashed together during the signing process to create a signature.
However in cryptocurrency, first the public key is hashed and then encoded into an alphanumeric string that is the address starting with "1", "3" or "bc1".
It may appear at first glance that the address and private key are being mashed together when a signature is created. Because a signature is used to sign transactions.
However the address actually has nothing to do with the signing process, it is for identification purposes of your money only. The public key is calculated from the private key. It does not work vice versa for security reasons - you can't get the private key from the public key.