Can someone please explain the digital signature standard algorhitm in laymans terms?

[iamconfused]

Im a information science student, so i really have no backroung knowledge in compter science. I understand the basic process behind digital signatures but thats as far as it goes. I have a presentation to give on friday. Ill copy and paste it here. If you can help, please do. Im at wits end. I dont know what any the symbols mean.

 

 

The Digital Signature Standard is computed using the following equations:

 

r = (gk mod p) (mod q)

s = (h(M) − xr)/k (mod q)

 

Describe what the various symbols represent.

 

(b) Write down and explain the equation(s) used to verify a signature.

 

© The standard specifies that r must lie strictly between 0 and q. What might

go wrong if an implementation does not check this?

 

(d) A designer decides to economise on code size by omitting the hash function computation, that is, replacing h(M) by M. What are the consequences of this optimisation?

[bascule]

Describe what the various symbols represent.

 

You might start here...

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Signature_Algorithm