Algebraic Solution for Point Doubling

This section provides an algebraic solution for calculating the addition operation of two points at the same location on an elliptic curve.

Case 3: P and Q are the same point. This case is also called "Point Doubling", because the addition can be expressed as P + P (or 2P):

If:
   P = Q

Then:
   P + Q = P + P = 2P

Let m be the slope of the straight line passing through P,
the line can be expressed as the following equation:
   y = m(x - xP) + yP

The other intersection, -R, of the line and the curve must satisfy
the line equation and the curve equation:
   -yR = m(xR - xP) + yP          (1)
   (-yR)2 = (xR)3 + a(xR) + b     (2)

Note that -yR in equation (2) can be replaced by the right
hand side of equation (1):
   (m(xR - xP) + yP)2 = (xR)3 + a(xR) + b

Regrouping terms will result a cubic equation for xR:
   (xR)3 - m2(xR)2 + (a - 2m(yP) + 2m2(xP))(xR) + b - (m(xP)-yP)2 = 0

We know that a cubic equation has 3 roots and their sum is the negation
of the coefficient of the second term based on Vieta's first formula,
see Vieta's formulas at wikipedia.org:
   xP + xP + xR = m2              (3)

Note that xP is used twice, because it is a double root.

Rearrange terms of equations (1) and (3) gives us the simplest way
to calculate, R:
   xR = m2 - 2xP                  (4)
   yR = m(xP - xR) - yP           (5)

The slope of the line, m, can be calculated by taking the first
derivative of the elliptic curve equation, because the line must
be tangent to the curve:
       3(xP)2 + a
   m = ---------                 (6)
         2(yP)

Now we can calculate R = 2P with equations (4), (5) and (6) with any given point, P, except that yP is not 0.

If yP, then R = (∞, ∞), because the other intersection is the infinity point.

By the way, proof of Vieta's formulas can be found in "Cubic Equations" by Arkajyoti Banerjee and Ayush G Rai at https://brilliant.org/wiki/cubic-equations/

Table of Contents

 About This Book

 Geometric Introduction to Elliptic Curves

Algebraic Introduction to Elliptic Curves

 Algebraic Description of Elliptic Curve Addition

 Algebraic Solution for Symmetrical Points

 Algebraic Solution for the Infinity Point

Algebraic Solution for Point Doubling

 Algebraic Solution for Distinct Points

 Elliptic Curves with Singularities

 Elliptic Curve Point Addition Example

 Elliptic Curve Point Doubling Example

 Abelian Group and Elliptic Curves

 Discrete Logarithm Problem (DLP)

 Finite Fields

 Generators and Cyclic Subgroups

 Reduced Elliptic Curve Groups

 Elliptic Curve Subgroups

 tinyec - Python Library for ECC

 EC (Elliptic Curve) Key Pair

 ECDH (Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman) Key Exchange

 ECDSA (Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm)

 ECES (Elliptic Curve Encryption Scheme)

 EC Cryptography in Java

 Standard Elliptic Curves

 Terminology

 References

 Full Version in PDF/EPUB