Mathematical Definition
Formally, our goal is to divide some data (e.g., the safe combination) into pieces in such a way that:
- Knowledge of any or more pieces makes easily computable.
- Knowledge of any or fewer pieces leaves completely undetermined (in the sense that all its possible values are equally likely).
This scheme is called threshold scheme. If then all participants are required to reconstruct the secret.
Read more about this topic: Shamir's Secret Sharing
Famous quotes containing the words mathematical and/or definition:
“It is by a mathematical point only that we are wise, as the sailor or the fugitive slave keeps the polestar in his eye; but that is sufficient guidance for all our life. We may not arrive at our port within a calculable period, but we would preserve the true course.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Although there is no universal agreement as to a definition of life, its biological manifestations are generally considered to be organization, metabolism, growth, irritability, adaptation, and reproduction.”
—The Columbia Encyclopedia, Fifth Edition, the first sentence of the article on “life” (based on wording in the First Edition, 1935)