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Timeline for What is the Merkle root?

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Nov 6, 2019 at 3:35 history edited Geremia CC BY-SA 4.0
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Nov 6, 2019 at 1:17 comment added Paul Parker The 2nd diagram is the only thing you need to understand everything. The "green" hash H_K is the /claim/ given to the PAYEE (who also has the Merkle root). The VERIFIER (full node) sends the "blue" hashes as /proof/, because they can be used to calculate all of the "blue dashed" hashes all the way up to the Merkle root. If the calculated Merkle root matches the known Merkle root, H_K is in the block. Obviously, the "blue" hashes are a small subset of ALL the hashes, i.e. 2*log_2(N) is less than the whole set N for N > 4. Graph it for yourself at desmos.com, with y=2log(N)/log(2) vs y=N.
Jan 15, 2018 at 17:35 comment added Geremia @limboy A SPV server sends a transaction's Merkle path to the lightweight client; this is enough for the lightweight client to verify the transaction is valid, without the lightweight client needing to have a list of all the transactions.
Jan 14, 2018 at 8:51 comment added limboy the discussion link seems dead... still haven't found the explain: if it's searched from the "list of transactions", if the position is founded, doesn't it mean that this transaction is a valid transaction?
Dec 5, 2017 at 19:29 comment added Geremia Let us continue this discussion in chat.
Dec 5, 2017 at 19:16 comment added alper As I understand, we know the index of all transactions that at which leaf they located. @Geremia
Dec 5, 2017 at 18:56 comment added Geremia @Avatar Sorry, I meant to say that one simply needs to search for the transaction in the "list of transactions."
Dec 5, 2017 at 18:03 comment added alper Got it much clear now. But again how could the algorithm knows that from which leaf should it start from. On your example there are 16 leafs so how could we detect the starting point of the Hk on the tree’s leafs. @Geremia
Dec 5, 2017 at 17:41 comment added Geremia @Avator Verification of a Merkle path proceed from the leaf node to the Merkle root.
Dec 5, 2017 at 17:02 comment added alper For example from root when we follow: right left right left we reach to Hk, which we want to verify. But how could we know that we should follow that path? @Geremia
Dec 5, 2017 at 15:53 comment added Geremia @Avatar To construct Merkle paths from scratch requires knowing all the transactions. Also, forge a fake Merkle path that corresponds to a given Merkle root would be even more difficult than to crack SHA256.
Dec 5, 2017 at 15:33 history edited Geremia CC BY-SA 3.0
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Dec 5, 2017 at 14:19 comment added alper To verify that a transaction: How do we know the exact location of Hk on the Merkle Tree? @Geremia
May 31, 2017 at 21:34 history edited Geremia CC BY-SA 3.0
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Jul 4, 2015 at 4:11 history edited Geremia CC BY-SA 3.0
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Jul 4, 2015 at 4:05 history edited Geremia CC BY-SA 3.0
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Jul 4, 2015 at 3:46 history edited Geremia CC BY-SA 3.0
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Jul 4, 2015 at 3:36 history answered Geremia CC BY-SA 3.0