Construct · 2 fields · 2 citations

Where does witness collide?

One name. Different field. Different construct. One map.

● jingle · one word, two constructs Nearest construct by meaningtestimonycompare the meanings
How to read this

Every construct on the map is compared with every other by the meaning of its definitions, and the closest one is surfaced here. The nearest construct to witness is testimony.

Hold this as a prompt, not a verdict. Two constructs sitting close in meaning is a reason to read them side by side and decide for yourself whether they are one idea under two names. It is not proof that they are. Compare the meanings in the Collider.

witness2 CONSTRUCTSNP witnessGOLDWASSER · NP WITNESSWitnessSHAPIN · HISTORY OF SCIENCE

Spokes are fields; dashed arcs are shared lineage. Tap a field for its definition, unit, and measures.

1984Witness1985NP witness
2026

Drag to watch the word get claimed. Each field appears at the publication date of the earliest source cited for it. Tap a year to see which.

Computational complexity and cryptography

A certificate that a statement is true

In computational complexity and cryptography, a witness is a short piece of information that certifies that a statement is true: for a problem in the class NP, a claimed solution serves as a witness that a verifier can check quickly. Goldwasser, Micali, and Rackoff's The knowledge complexity of interactive proof-systems (1985) showed that a prover can convince a verifier that a statement is true while revealing nothing about the witness, defining the zero-knowledge proof. The referent is a mathematical certificate consumed by an algorithm, not a person who testifies in court, and not a believer who attests to their faith.[1]

Unit
A string that certifies membership of an instance in an NP relation
Recovery means
Not applicable
Measured by
Checked by a verification algorithm in polynomial time, or kept hidden by a zero-knowledge protocol

History of science

virtual witnessing, Boyle's use of detailed reports and images so that readers could picture an experiment as if they had seen it.

In history of science, witness refers to virtual witnessing, Boyle's use of detailed reports and images so that readers could picture an experiment as if they had seen it. This meaning comes from Shapin (1984) in Social Studies of Science.[2]

Unit
Recovery means
Measured by

Next

Run it through the Collider, or take the citations with you.

See how witness sits against neighbouring constructs in the Collider, or export every reference on this page in one click.

Open in ColliderExport BibTeXReport this collision

Nearby collisions

proof2 fields · 5 citationsjingle · one word, two constructsauthentication2 fields · 5 citationsjingle · one word, two constructsbelief4 fields · 4 citationsjingle · one word, four constructs

References

  1. Goldwasser, S., Micali, S., & Rackoff, C. (1985). The knowledge complexity of interactive proof-systems. In Proceedings of the Seventeenth Annual ACM Symposium on Theory of Computing (pp. 291–304). ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/22145.22178
  2. Shapin, S. (1984). Pump and Circumstance: Robert Boyle's Literary Technology. Social Studies of Science, 14(4), 481-520. https://doi.org/10.1177/030631284014004001

Cited on this page?

Confirm your construct, or correct us.

If your work is cited behind one of these entries, you know better than we do whether we captured the meaning right. Confirm it, suggest an edit, or dispute it, and your name goes on the entry as an author who has checked it, linked to your ORCID.

Claim your construct