<p>Proof of Work (the proof that "maths puzzle" was solved) serves a variety of purposes.  The primary purpose being to determine the "first" miner whose block should rightfully be accepted as the next block in the chain.  If there was no cost to proposing the next block, there would be far too many candidate blocks and the network would split too often.</p>

<p>With Proof of Work, the network can determine which miner has earned the right to mine the next block by having expended the electricity to produce the hash that meets the difficulty level.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-03-17T01:01:49.913Z
2018-03-17T01:01:49.913Z
ooomid
<p>Because, although it would be possible to create a system that worked like this, it would result in a massive amount of orphan blocks and chain splits and, it would not be clear to most nodes which is the longest chain. Think of a blockchain structure like The Ganges river system.</p>

<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganges#/media/File:HeadwatersGanges1.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganges#/media/File:HeadwatersGanges1.jpg" alt="The Ganges"></a></p>

<p>Every ten minutes, 10,000 new blocks would be distributed if there are 10,000 miners. Each of these 10,000 blocks would be at the same blockheight so that it is not possible to determine the longest chain. The longest chain is the block that is next built upon but, after ten more minutes all miners distribut another block building on the block that they prefer. There are now 10,000<sup>2</sup> possible blockchains (although less than this will actually be created) and, none of them are yet the longest. This process continues.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-03-17T01:14:25.027Z
Makes a lot of sense
Kyle Graham
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-03-17T01:06:53.970Z
2018-03-17T01:16:38.670Z
2018-03-17T01:16:38.670Z
Willtech
<p>Instead of a maths puzzle, why can't we have miners collect transactions, then just make them wait 10 minutes before accepting the first block broadcasted?</p>

<bitcoin-core>
what is the point of the maths puzzle?
Kyle Graham
# what is the point of the maths puzzle?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-03-17)

Instead of a maths puzzle, why can't we have miners collect transactions, then just make them wait 10 minutes before accepting the first block broadcasted?

**Tags:** bitcoin-core


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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2018-03-17. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

Proof of Work (the proof that "maths puzzle" was solved) serves a variety of purposes. The primary purpose being to determine the "first" miner whose block should rightfully be accepted as the next block in the chain. If there was no cost to proposing the next block, there would be far too many candidate blocks and the network would split too often.

With Proof of Work, the network can determine which miner has earned the right to mine the next block by having expended the electricity to produce the hash that meets the difficulty level.


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### Answer by username_2 on 2018-03-17. Score: 0

Because, although it would be possible to create a system that worked like this, it would result in a massive amount of orphan blocks and chain splits and, it would not be clear to most nodes which is the longest chain. Think of a blockchain structure like The Ganges river system.

[![The Ganges](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganges#/media/File:HeadwatersGanges1.jpg)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganges#/media/File:HeadwatersGanges1.jpg)

Every ten minutes, 10,000 new blocks would be distributed if there are 10,000 miners. Each of these 10,000 blocks would be at the same blockheight so that it is not possible to determine the longest chain. The longest chain is the block that is next built upon but, after ten more minutes all miners distribut another block building on the block that they prefer. There are now 10,0002 possible blockchains (although less than this will actually be created) and, none of them are yet the longest. This process continues.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Makes a lot of sense  

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