What is md5() for?

Question

I was reading this tutorial for a simple PHP login system.

In the end it recommends that you should encrypt your password using md5().

Though I know this is a be

Answer 1

In addition to providing salt (or seed), the md5 is a complex hashing algorithm which uses mathematical rules to produce a result that is specifically not reversable because of the mathematical changes and dataloss in throughput.

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