What Is “Pool Variance” or “Luck” in the Context of Block Finding and How Does It Impact PROP?
Pool variance, or luck, is the statistical deviation between the actual number of shares required to find a block and the theoretically expected number. A "lucky" pool finds a block with fewer shares than expected, leading to higher payouts per share for PROP miners in that round.
An "unlucky" pool requires more shares, resulting in lower payouts. PROP miners directly bear this risk, as their payment is delayed and variable until a block is found.
Glossar
Block Finding
Discovery ⎊ The successful computation of a valid hash that satisfies the network's difficulty target represents the core security contribution in a Proof-of-Work system.
Statistical Deviation
Variance ⎊ The statistical deviation, fundamentally, quantifies the dispersion of a dataset around its mean, representing the degree to which individual data points differ from the average value.
Luck Variance
Variance ⎊ Luck variance quantifies the deviation between a mining pool's actual number of blocks found over a period and the statistically expected number based on its submitted hash power, or shares.
PROP
Methodology ⎊ PROP (Proportional) is a mining pool payout method where rewards are distributed proportionally to the number of shares submitted by each miner during the time it takes to find a block.