zk-SNARKs are beautiful constructions shrouded in mystery. They open new horizons in private and scalable compute. They are essential to privacy-preserving digital transactions and to the scalability roadmap of all blockchains. But the basics can actually be relatively easily understood by someone with no more than high school math (basic familiarity with polynomials and exponent rules). Perhaps you could have even invented them yourself, if you had tried. So let's try.
