Quote from: DannyHamilton on April 23, 2024, 09:34:25 AM

Quote from: bkelly13 on April 22, 2024, 05:03:32 PM

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Since it isn't really any more difficult for a computer to convert binary data to base58 than it is to convert that binary data to hex, why not?

Oh its a lot more difficult. Converting binary to hex is a single pass process that just replaces each 4 bits with one character. When creating the base 58 code, you must divide that 256 number by 58 once for each character in the result. And since there are no 256 bit ALUs, it must be synthesized with multiple divides tracking the multiple quotients and remainders. And the radix of 58 is prime with respect to radix 2. A one bit change can change the entire base 58 encoding.

But, it really doesn't matter because it will not be changed.

However, I am still working on how bitcoin transactions work. Got to this site:
https://hackernoon.com/what-is-the-math-behind-elliptic-curve-cryptography-f61b25253da3

Its pretty good. I get to the point where it states: The base point used by secp256k1 curve has the following x- and y- coordinates: ….

The site does not make a clear declaration but my understanding is that this is named point P. The core of all bitcoin calculations. Is this correct?

Is this the point on the curve from which all operations begin? Over simplifying a bit and in my words: Begin with P. For each 1 bit in the private address, add in the coordinates of P, according to the bit position of each one.

Further down the site mentions using the modulus function and names that value p. It names the modulus divisor as the largest prime smaller than 2^256 but does not provide a value.

A search revealed two sites, one of which is: https://t5k.org/lists/2small/200bit.html
From there is this row:

256 189, 357, 435, 587, 617, 923, 1053, 1299, 1539, 1883

But please notice that the formatting is quite unusual. Six groups of three, then four groups of four. Is this the correct value for p?

Do you have a favorite place to look this up?

Thanks again for your time and patience.