Build the Root

Chunks Become Leaves

Four pinned chunks become the leaves of a tiny tree.

highlighted = computed this step

Start with four one-byte chunks

The chunks are pinned as A=0xaa, B=0xbb, C=0xcc, and D=0xdd.

A,B,C,DA,B,C,D
Four chunks become leavesA toy Merkle tree is recomputed from four one-byte chunks.Four chunks become leaves - original root 0eroot 0eoriginal rootAB 65pair hashA aaleaf hashB bbleaf hashCD a9pair hashC ccleaf hashD ddleaf hash

The toy hash is deliberately small

The rule is H(bytes)=sum(bytes) mod 256, displayed as two hex digits.

H(bytes)=∑bytes mod 256H(\text{bytes})=\sum\text{bytes}\bmod 256
Four chunks become leavesA toy Merkle tree is recomputed from four one-byte chunks.Four chunks become leaves - original root 0eroot 0eoriginal rootAB 65pair hashA aaleaf hashB bbleaf hashCD a9pair hashC ccleaf hashD ddleaf hash

One byte hashes to itself here

Each one-byte leaf keeps the same displayed hash: A=0xaa, B=0xbb, C=0xcc, D=0xdd.

H(A)=0xaaH(A)=0xaa
Four chunks become leavesA toy Merkle tree is recomputed from four one-byte chunks.Four chunks become leaves - original root 0eroot 0eoriginal rootAB 65pair hashA aaleaf hashB bbleaf hashCD a9pair hashC ccleaf hashD ddleaf hash

Summary

The leaves are exact byte values, not prose labels.

leaves=4\text{leaves}=4
Four chunks become leavesA toy Merkle tree is recomputed from four one-byte chunks.Four chunks become leaves - original root 0eroot 0eoriginal rootAB 65pair hashA aaleaf hashB bbleaf hashCD a9pair hashC ccleaf hashD ddleaf hash