<p>I don't know much about Litecoin, but if its difficulty works the same as in Bitcoin, then on average it takes <a href="https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Difficulty#What_network_hash_rate_results_in_a_given_difficulty.3F" rel="nofollow">approximately</a> <code>difficulty * 2^32</code> hashes to solve each block.</p>

<p>Since you're calculating 25000 hashes per second, it should take you around <code>6 * 2^32 / 25000</code> seconds to solve a block.  Or about 286 hours.</p>

<p>Does that sound about right?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-07-20T04:35:14.200Z
Yes, that seems about right. What's the significance of 2^32? Does the numeric value of the hash need to fall under 1/((2^32)*D) where D is the difficulty, as part of the block solving algorithm? That would explain it.
Highly Irregular
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-07-20T05:13:32.670Z
The answer to this question http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/q/1453/516 has a formula for Bitcoin, but I couldn't make any sense of it. Seeing the similarity to your answer, I was able to fix it by adding some brackets that were necessary to get the correct result. I'm pleased to get that cleared up!
Highly Irregular
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-07-20T05:42:02.993Z
See the link 'approximately' for too many details about this whole 'difficulty' thing.  But yes - a difficulty 1 block needs to have a hash starting with 32 zero bits.  That's where the 2^32 comes from.  It actually has to be less than 0x00000000FFFF, which is why I said "approximately", since 2^32 is off by a factor of 65535/65536.  Starting with 32 zero bits isn't quite enough - at least one of the next 16 bits has to be zero too.
Chris Moore
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-07-20T03:08:25.883Z
2012-07-20T03:08:25.883Z
Chris Moore
<p>The current difficulty for mining Litecoins is about 6. If I mine them at 25kh/s, how often should I expect to solve a block with a difficulty of 6?</p>

<p>I'd also appreciate an explanation (or formula) of how the calculation is done.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-07-20T00:10:51.347Z
Litecoin topics might be appropriate on the Alternate Cryptocurrencies board on the BitcoinTalk forum: http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=67.0
Stephen Gornick
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-07-20T01:13:44.250Z
@StephenGornick, my understanding is that all similar cryptocurrencies are within the scope of this site. http://meta.bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/15/are-questions-about-other-crypto-currencies-on-topic
Highly Irregular
<litecoin><difficulty><mining-profitability>
How to convert Litecoin difficulty of 6 to an expected time per block solved?
Highly Irregular
# How to convert Litecoin difficulty of 6 to an expected time per block solved?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2012-07-19)

The current difficulty for mining Litecoins is about 6. If I mine them at 25kh/s, how often should I expect to solve a block with a difficulty of 6?

I'd also appreciate an explanation (or formula) of how the calculation is done.

**Tags:** litecoin, difficulty, mining-profitability

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Litecoin topics might be appropriate on the Alternate Cryptocurrencies board on the BitcoinTalk forum: http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=67.0  
> **username_0**: @StephenGornick, my understanding is that all similar cryptocurrencies are within the scope of this site. http://meta.bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/15/are-questions-about-other-crypto-currencies-on-topic  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2012-07-20. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

I don't know much about Litecoin, but if its difficulty works the same as in Bitcoin, then on average it takes [approximately](https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Difficulty#What_network_hash_rate_results_in_a_given_difficulty.3F) `difficulty * 2^32` hashes to solve each block.

Since you're calculating 25000 hashes per second, it should take you around `6 * 2^32 / 25000` seconds to solve a block. Or about 286 hours.

Does that sound about right?

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Yes, that seems about right. What's the significance of 2^32? Does the numeric value of the hash need to fall under 1/((2^32)*D) where D is the difficulty, as part of the block solving algorithm? That would explain it.  
> **username_0**: The answer to this question http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/q/1453/516 has a formula for Bitcoin, but I couldn't make any sense of it. Seeing the similarity to your answer, I was able to fix it by adding some brackets that were necessary to get the correct result. I'm pleased to get that cleared up!  
> **username_2**: See the link 'approximately' for too many details about this whole 'difficulty' thing.  But yes - a difficulty 1 block needs to have a hash starting with 32 zero bits.  That's where the 2^32 comes from.  It actually has to be less than 0x00000000FFFF, which is why I said "approximately", since 2^32 is off by a factor of 65535/65536.  Starting with 32 zero bits isn't quite enough - at least one of the next 16 bits has to be zero too.  

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