<hebasto> when we are talking about coordinates of G, we should call it "base point G"; when we're talking about group properties, e.g., order of element etc, we could call it "generator". IMO, it could make things simpler to reasoning about them.
<sipa> hebasto: if it helps you, feel free to PR some better wording
<hebasto> sipa: thanks
<sipa> but secp256k1 is a cyclic group of prime order, so every point apart from infinity is a generator
<sipa> yet G is a specific one out of those
<hebasto> sipa: that is why "The constant G refers to the base point..." looks better
<sipa> but that sounds like there is only one possible base point
<hebasto> This is the only point used as a base point in bitcoin...
<sipa> correct
<sipa> i think the term base point refers to the DLP actually; for example you can say "finding the private key of corresponding to public key P requires finding the DL lf P w.r.t. base point G"
<hebasto> https://www.secg.org/sec2-v2.pdf defines the base point G as one of EC domain parameters
real-or-random
commented
5 years ago
SEC 2: Recommended Elliptic Curve Domain Parameters defines the base point G as one of elliptic curve domain parameters.
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