TinkerPots mix evenly: order never matters. Toy-size numbers.In the open: BASE 5
Chapter 2 of 7
Mixing paint
Sending the key lets anyone copy it. What if both ends could make the same key without it ever crossing?
This chapter: How can two strangers agree on a secret over an open line?
About this chapter
You will learn
- Each side mixes its secret into a public base
- Swap the mixes, then add your secret again
- Unmixing is the hard part
Words you’ll meet
- Diffie–Hellman
- Each side mixes a secret into a public number, they swap, and both reach the same shared secret.
- Public number
- A mix anyone may see: the base with one side’s secret in it.
- Shared secret
- The number both sides reach and the eavesdropper can’t.
Step 1 of 6
works like paint. The base pot is public; each side keeps one secret colour.
Pick your secret colour.