8 ms·
Closely related, [1] previously discussed the paradoxical fact that: If you pick a random point in time, you expect 20 minutes between the previous block and t
by tromp 9y ago
Closely related, [1] previously discussed the paradoxical fact that:
If you pick a random point in time, you expect 20 minutes between the previous block and the next block on average.
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16469382 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16469382
- usmannk 9y agoNot quite. The paradoxical fact is that if you pick a random point in time, it’s expected that there is 20 minutes between that point and the next block. Even if there’s already been 20 minutes since the previous block! Edit: woops! See below.
- tgb 9y agoThe original poster had it right - you are mistakenly thinking that the block time is 20 minutes when it's 10. Once you make that correction, you are both correct.
- barbegal 9y agoAnd it's relatively easy to prove intuitively. If you pick a random point in time, the time from that point to the point of finding the next block will be 10 minutes. That is globally true. The point will also be randomly distributed in an interval, so on average there is as much time between the random point and the next block as between the random point and the previous block. Thus at a random point in time the average interval is 10 minutes + 10 minutes = 20 minutes.