<p>It's the same relationship between the branches of a tree and the seed you put in the earth that grows into that tree.<br />
We have a <em>seed</em> that can be used to <strong>derive</strong> child branches and child keys which makes the relationship is <strong>one directional</strong> (you can always derive the child key by having the seed but you can't compute the seed from the child key).</p>
<p>Take a look at the following picture from <a href="https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0032.mediawiki" rel="nofollow noreferrer">BIP32</a>:<br />
<a href="https://i.sstatic.net/kvujP.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/kvujP.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-03-31T06:05:54.130Z
Thanks! So, all in all, to start using Bitcoin, I can pick a random seed phrase. Then I can generate several private/public key pairs. That's what these software wallets do.
m_ocean
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-04-01T10:34:20.950Z
Essentially. Almost all wallets are deterministic these days. They create a random seed which they use to derive all the future keys. That way they only rely on RNG once.
Coding Enthusiast
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-03-30T08:11:42.510Z
2021-03-30T08:11:42.510Z
Coding Enthusiast
<p>Is it a 1-to-1 relationship? If so, does that mean they are interchangeable? Can I then store just one of them and derive the other when needed?</p>

<private-key><seed>
How are a private key and a seed phrase related?
m_ocean
# How are a private key and a seed phrase related?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-03-30)

Is it a 1-to-1 relationship? If so, does that mean they are interchangeable? Can I then store just one of them and derive the other when needed?

**Tags:** private-key, seed


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2021-03-30. Score: 3

It's the same relationship between the branches of a tree and the seed you put in the earth that grows into that tree.  
We have a *seed* that can be used to **derive** child branches and child keys which makes the relationship is **one directional** (you can always derive the child key by having the seed but you can't compute the seed from the child key).

Take a look at the following picture from [BIP32](https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0032.mediawiki):  
[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/kvujP.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/kvujP.png)

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Thanks! So, all in all, to start using Bitcoin, I can pick a random seed phrase. Then I can generate several private/public key pairs. That's what these software wallets do.  
> **username_1**: Essentially. Almost all wallets are deterministic these days. They create a random seed which they use to derive all the future keys. That way they only rely on RNG once.  

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