In mathematics, factoring (or factorization) refers to the process of breaking down a mathematical object, such as a number or a polynomial, into a product of smaller or simpler objects, called factors, that when multiplied together yield the original object. Factoring of Numbers For integers, factoring refers to expressing a number as the product of…

RSA (Rivest–Shamir–Adleman) is one of the most widely used public-key cryptosystems, primarily for secure data transmission. It is based on the mathematical difficulty of factoring the product of two large prime numbers, which is the foundation of its security. RSA is used for both encryption and digital signatures, and its security comes from the computational…

Permissioned and Permissionless systems are two types of blockchain architectures that determine how participants can access, interact with, and contribute to the network. The key difference lies in who is allowed to participate and how control is managed across the network. Permissioned Blockchain Systems A permissioned blockchain restricts participation to a predefined group of entities.…

Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) is a concept in digital identity management that allows individuals or entities to have full control and ownership over their personal data and digital identities without relying on a centralized authority. With SSI, individuals can manage their identity independently, securely store personal data, and selectively share only the necessary information with third…

A vote-based consensus method is a type of consensus algorithm used in distributed systems or blockchains, where nodes in the network participate by voting to agree on a common decision. Each node has a “vote” that it casts in favor of a particular block or transaction, and the network reaches consensus when a certain number…

Non-repudiation is a security principle that ensures that a person or entity cannot deny the authenticity of their signature, message, or action after it has been completed. In the context of digital communication, non-repudiation means that once someone has signed or sent a message, they cannot later claim that they did not do so. Non-repudiation…

A hash function is a mathematical algorithm that takes an input (or “message”) and returns a fixed-size string of characters, which is typically a hash value or digest (output). The output is a unique representation of the input data. You can think of a hash digest like a fingerprint. Just as every person’s fingerprint is…

Pipelining on Cardano is a performance-enhancing technique designed to improve the blockchain’s transaction throughput and overall scalability by optimizing the way blocks are propagated through the network. It is part of Cardano’s network layer improvements and was introduced to support the increasing demand for transactions while maintaining decentralization and security. Here’s how pipelining works: In…

Plutus scripts are more powerful and flexible, allowing for Turing-complete smart contracts on the Cardano blockchain. They are based on the Plutus platform, which uses Haskell, a functional programming language. Plutus scripts enable more complex logic and programmability compared to native scripts. Key Characteristics: Use Cases: Example Use Case: A Plutus script could define a…

A Turing-complete programming language is a type of computational system that can simulate any algorithm or computation, given enough time and memory. In other words, if a programming language is Turing-complete, it means that it can solve any problem that a Turing machine (a theoretical model of computation invented by Alan Turing) can solve, provided…