Post
Topic
Board Development & Technical Discussion
Re: Improved Measurement of Proof-of-Work using entropy
by
mechanikalk
on 11/03/2023, 20:15:25 UTC
This paper POEM: Proof-of-Entropy-Minima (https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.04305) was just published to arxiv.  It seems like a much better way to measure the heaviest chain tip as well as minimize time to resolve orphans.  It can instantaneously resolve 67% of orphans rather than having to wait for the next block.  Additionally, it seems to have better finalization time guarantees for a given hash.  Also, it has an equation that relates to finalization that would create objective measurable preference between different hash functions.

No, it's not. The author has made a very common mistake. This mistake is a consequence of a superficial understanding of probability theory.

Satoshi has made a good job and his calculation of the chain weight is correct.

If you disagree with me we can dive into details.

Please tell me what you think the mistake in probability theory is.

Thanks in advanced.
delta_S = 1/2^n where n is the number of leading zeros.  This makes sense from a Shannon entropy concept where entropy is a reduction in divergence and it also makes sense from a system entropy standpoint as well were miners exert work to lower the entropy and increase the system order.


There is no "mistake in probability theory". Don't distort my message, please.

What is your personal opinion about this paper? Do you think it is correct?

I think the paper is correct.

In your opinion, what definition of "entropy" does the author use through out the paper?