It is often better to express the optimal block size problem in dimensionless manner. It is known that the percentile p is such that
Denote the expected block fee of all transactions, including those who pay less fee and not included in the block, by m. Define . Then the optimal problem is to maximize:
Since the maximization is equivalent to the maximization of its natural log, here it is to maximize:
Therefore, the optimal equation is:
And the second order condition of maximization means:
effectively,
Because and , it is observed that the optimal p as an implicit function must be increasing with respect to k under some conditions. By the optimal equation, it follows:
effectively,
Note that if h is near zero, any k will serve its job. Also the two following conditions suffice for whatever and and :
With exponential distribution example, the two conditions are:
so the overall condition is
With uniform distribution example, the two conditions are:
so the overall condition is
Also is increasing with respect to and . is a measure of the impact of infrastructure in term of and the economy size in term of . The larger the k is, the better the blockchain fits the need. Alternatively, another solution to increase percentile is h approaching 1; when h is 1, then p is 1. In a sense, it is people's decision of "to the left" or "to the right" but then a blockchain of h =1 is essentially a centralized database and in my opinion not appealing. Increasing for the sake of higher p is never an option because a super high is like a blockchain on planet Pluto and a blockchain on planet Earth due to speed of light, effectively two distinct blockchains.
As k approaches infinite, p approaches 1 and both miners and consumers agree the block fee qVT which m is approaching too. If miners have stronger bargain power in transaction fee, the equation may be applied by miners to set the m:
and accordingly, the lowest fee per byte
In the exponential distribution example, the equation is:
Lowest fee per byte