<blockquote>
<p><strong>What is a pair of nonces [...]</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p>I guess they refer to <a href="https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/nonce">nonce</a> and <a href="https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/search?q=extranonce">extranonce</a>.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>[...] and how does a pair of nonces solve a block?</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Talk of &quot;solving&quot; a block doesn't make much sense. They just mean that miners find values for the data in a block that result in the hash of the block being a number no bigger than the current network target number. Those values include nonce, extranonce and others.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-10-25T13:11:44.577Z
(I meant solving in the mathematical sense, as any mining task can be seen as solving an equation, defined by the `CNTN`, the list of transactions in a block, etc.)
Erik Kaplun
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-10-25T10:08:10.257Z
2022-10-25T10:08:10.257Z
RedGrittyBrick
<p>From <a href="https://www.sps.ed.ac.uk/sites/default/files/pictures/ekja03/Mining25.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.sps.ed.ac.uk/sites/default/files/pictures/ekja03/Mining25.pdf</a> page 10:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The bitcoin system is therefore designed to ensure that it takes around ten minutes on average before any miner anywhere manages to discover a nonce, or pair of nonces, that generates a hash with enough zeros. /…/</p>
</blockquote>
<p>What is a pair of nonces and how does a pair of nonces solve a block?</p>

<mining-theory><nonce>
What is a pair of nonces?
Erik Kaplun
# What is a pair of nonces?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2022-10-25)

From <https://www.sps.ed.ac.uk/sites/default/files/pictures/ekja03/Mining25.pdf> page 10:

> The bitcoin system is therefore designed to ensure that it takes around ten minutes on average before any miner anywhere manages to discover a nonce, or pair of nonces, that generates a hash with enough zeros. /…/

What is a pair of nonces and how does a pair of nonces solve a block?

**Tags:** mining-theory, nonce


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2022-10-25. Score: 2

> **What is a pair of nonces [...]**

I guess they refer to [nonce](https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/nonce) and [extranonce](https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/search?q=extranonce).

> **[...] and how does a pair of nonces solve a block?**

Talk of "solving" a block doesn't make much sense. They just mean that miners find values for the data in a block that result in the hash of the block being a number no bigger than the current network target number. Those values include nonce, extranonce and others.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: (I meant solving in the mathematical sense, as any mining task can be seen as solving an equation, defined by the `CNTN`, the list of transactions in a block, etc.)  

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