The Sum-Check Protocol w/ Justin Thaler

In this module, Tracy Livengood and Justin Thaler provide a comprehensive introduction to the sum-check protocol and why it is so powerful, beginning with a catch-up on polynomials (univariate, multivariate, multilinear) as well as the important concept of multilinear extensions, and introduce the “equality” function. They go on to explain the mechanics of the sum-check protocol, detailing its goals and process, before walking us through the rounds of the protocol and demonstrating how it is applied. They then highlight the advantages of sum-check over other SNARK systems, and sketch the Spartan polynomial IOP. Toward the end, they delve into the Goldwasser, Kalai and Rothblum (GKR) protocol and discuss the trade-offs between this system and Spartan.