4 ms·

It's a simple order of magnitude calculation. 2^256 is greater than one billion to the eighth power, times 100,000. There are probably several possible ways you

• littlestymaar 5y ago
  > but I think it's unlikely you'd come up with even a single billion. One billion is really really tiny though, let's just play a game : - Unless you're colorblind, you can easily tell ten hues apart. Let's pick two colors, one with a saturated hue, and the other with a pastel one. That's 100 possibilities. - I'm pretty sure you can easily recognize pictures of a hundred people you've met at some point in your life. Let's pick two of them, that's 10 thousand combinations. - can you recognize ten different road signs? Ten country shapes ? Ten animals ? Ten fictional character? Ten books cover? Ten celebrities? Just pick three categories, and you've got a thousand combinations. Now I'm pretty sure you can tell your grandma sitting under a vivid pink UK shape next to your 9th grade math teacher staring at Bruce Willis holding a giant light blue stop sign apart from any other imaginable combinations. An untrained[1] human brain probably cannot distinguish between 2^256 items, but it's still able to do it for massive numbers. [1]: but maybe it's possible with training: for instance, chess professionals might be able to do it.