# Glossary

This page will be a quick lookup to clarify the jargon used in the industry. In my experience, I have often noticed that people already know a concept but they do not have the right word to encapsulate that or they use an alternative term and are therefore clueless as to what this \*new\* term means.\
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This is the reason for this page to exist.

### B

1. Base Field

For the `secp256k1` curve, the base field `p` is 

```
p = 115792089237316195423570985008687907853269984665640564039457584007908834671663
```

The base field of an elliptic curve is the field over which the curve is defined. The base field size thereby defines the number of elements of the finite field.

### S

1. Scalar Field

For the `secp256k1` curve, the scalar field `n` is:

```
n = 115792089237316195423570985008687907852837564279074904382605163141518161494337
```

The scalar field is the field of scalars used in the operations performed on the curve, such as point addition, scalar multiplication and pairings

Refer to the explanation of `Base field` for initial context.