A more exact n constant

[aryzing]

The n constant currently approximated as n = 1.1578 * 10^77

bitcoinbook/ch04.asciidoc

Line 63 in 97df56f

More precisely, the private key can be any number between +0+ and +n - 1+ inclusive, where n is a constant (n = 1.1578 * 10^77^, slightly less than 2^256^) defined as the order of the elliptic curve used in bitcoin (see <<elliptic_curve>>). To create such a key, we randomly pick a 256-bit number and check that it is less than +n+. In programming terms, this is usually achieved by feeding a larger string of random bits, collected from a cryptographically secure source of randomness, into the SHA256 hash algorithm, which will conveniently produce a 256-bit number. If the result is less than +n+, we have a suitable private key. Otherwise, we simply try again with another random number.

can be more accurately approximated as

n = 1.1579 * 10^77