Error detection

The error detector is a filter which blocks all errors with a high probability. This is a very useful function against "white noises" which cause a lot headaches for many applications, for instance, the transmission of medical images might carry some "white noises" along the way and the results might be disastrous.

We measure the power of an error detection by the probability of letting errors slip by the filter. We say the error detection is "one error in 10⁷⁷" if the probability of letting errors slip by the filter is 10^-77.

A related concept is "message digest": the common MD2, MD5 can detect error with a probability 1-10^-38 (i.e., "one error in 10³⁸"), and SHA with a probability 1-10^-48 (i.e., "one error in 10⁴⁸"). They are not as strong as our encryptions at this point.

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