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Clearer explanation of merkle tree value

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Lornestar 2014-08-24 20:27:22 +08:00
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@ -145,7 +145,7 @@ Each block in the bitcoin blockchain contains a summary of all the transactions
A _Merkle Tree_, also known as a _Binary Hash Tree_ is a data structure used for efficiently summarizing and verifying the integrity of large sets of data. Merkle Trees are binary trees containing cryptographic hashes. The term "tree" is used in computer science to describe a branching data structure, but these trees are usually displayed upside down with the "root" at the top and the "leaves" at the bottom of a diagram, as you will see in the examples that follow.
Merkle trees are used in bitcoin to summarize all the transactions in a block, producing an overall digital fingerprint of the entire set of transactions, which can be used to prove that a transaction is included in the set. A merkle tree is constructed by recursively hashing pairs of nodes until there is only one hash, called the _root_, or _merkle root_. The cryptographic hash algorithm used in bitcoin's merkle trees is SHA256 applied twice, also known as double-SHA256.
Merkle trees are used in bitcoin to summarize all the transactions in a block, producing an overall digital fingerprint of the entire set of transactions, providing a very efficient process to verify if a transaction is included in a block. A merkle tree is constructed by recursively hashing pairs of nodes until there is only one hash, called the _root_, or _merkle root_. The cryptographic hash algorithm used in bitcoin's merkle trees is SHA256 applied twice, also known as double-SHA256.
When N data elements are hashed and summarized in a Merkle Tree, you can check to see if any one data element is included in the tree with at most +2*log~2~(N)+ calculations, making this a very efficient data structure.