diff --git a/ssz/merkle-proofs.md b/ssz/merkle-proofs.md
index 44b85fdda..2f32e43eb 100644
--- a/ssz/merkle-proofs.md
+++ b/ssz/merkle-proofs.md
@@ -26,25 +26,34 @@
 ## Helper functions
 
 ```python
-def get_next_power_of_two(x: int) -> int:
+def get_power_of_two_ceil(x: int) -> int:
     """
-    Get next power of 2 >= the input.
+    Get the power of 2 for given input, or the closest higher power of 2 if the input is not a power of 2.
+    Commonly used for "how many nodes do I need for a bottom tree layer fitting x elements?"
+    Example: 0->1, 1->1, 2->2, 3->4, 4->4, 5->8, 6->8, 7->8, 8->8, 9->16.
     """
-    if x <= 2:
-        return x
+    if x <= 1:
+        return 1
+    elif x == 2:
+        return 2
     else:
-        return 2 * get_next_power_of_two((x + 1) // 2)
+        return 2 * get_power_of_two_ceil((x + 1) // 2)
 ```
 
 ```python
-def get_previous_power_of_two(x: int) -> int:
+def get_power_of_two_floor(x: int) -> int:
     """
-    Get the previous power of 2 >= the input.
+    Get the power of 2 for given input, or the closest lower power of 2 if the input is not a power of 2.
+    The zero case is a placeholder and not used for math with generalized indices.
+    Commonly used for "what power of two makes up the root bit of the generalized index?"
+    Example: 0->1, 1->1, 2->2, 3->2, 4->4, 5->4, 6->4, 7->4, 8->8, 9->8
     """
-    if x <= 2:
+    if x <= 1:
+        return 1
+    if x == 2:
         return x
     else:
-        return 2 * get_previous_power_of_two(x // 2)
+        return 2 * get_power_of_two_floor(x // 2)
 ```
 
 ## Generalized Merkle tree index
@@ -62,9 +71,14 @@ Note that the generalized index has the convenient property that the two childre
 
 ```python
 def merkle_tree(leaves: Sequence[Bytes32]) -> Sequence[Bytes32]:
-    padded_length = get_next_power_of_two(len(leaves))
-    o = [Bytes32()] * padded_length + list(leaves) + [Bytes32()] * (padded_length - len(leaves))
-    for i in range(padded_length - 1, 0, -1):
+    """
+    Return an array representing the tree nodes by generalized index: 
+    [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7], where each layer is a power of 2. The 0 index is ignored. The 1 index is the root.
+    The result will be twice the size as the padded bottom layer for the input leaves.
+    """
+    bottom_length = get_power_of_two_ceil(len(leaves))
+    o = [Bytes32()] * bottom_length + list(leaves) + [Bytes32()] * (bottom_length - len(leaves))
+    for i in range(bottom_length - 1, 0, -1):
         o[i] = hash(o[i * 2] + o[i * 2 + 1])
     return o
 ```
@@ -169,7 +183,7 @@ def get_generalized_index(typ: SSZType, path: Sequence[Union[int, SSZVariableNam
         else:
             pos, _, _ = get_item_position(typ, p)
             base_index = (GeneralizedIndex(2) if issubclass(typ, (List, ByteList)) else GeneralizedIndex(1))
-            root = GeneralizedIndex(root * base_index * get_next_power_of_two(chunk_count(typ)) + pos)
+            root = GeneralizedIndex(root * base_index * get_power_of_two_ceil(chunk_count(typ)) + pos)
             typ = get_elem_type(typ, p)
     return root
 ```
@@ -188,7 +202,7 @@ def concat_generalized_indices(*indices: GeneralizedIndex) -> GeneralizedIndex:
     """
     o = GeneralizedIndex(1)
     for i in indices:
-        o = GeneralizedIndex(o * get_previous_power_of_two(i) + (i - get_previous_power_of_two(i)))
+        o = GeneralizedIndex(o * get_power_of_two_floor(i) + (i - get_power_of_two_floor(i)))
     return o
 ```
 
diff --git a/tests/core/pyspec/eth2spec/utils/test_merkle_proof_util.py b/tests/core/pyspec/eth2spec/utils/test_merkle_proof_util.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e1d59fa8c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/core/pyspec/eth2spec/utils/test_merkle_proof_util.py
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+import pytest
+
+
+# Note: these functions are extract from merkle-proofs.md (deprecated),
+# the tests are temporary to show correctness while the document is still there.
+
+def get_power_of_two_ceil(x: int) -> int:
+    if x <= 1:
+        return 1
+    elif x == 2:
+        return 2
+    else:
+        return 2 * get_power_of_two_ceil((x + 1) // 2)
+
+
+def get_power_of_two_floor(x: int) -> int:
+    if x <= 1:
+        return 1
+    if x == 2:
+        return x
+    else:
+        return 2 * get_power_of_two_floor(x // 2)
+
+
+power_of_two_ceil_cases = [
+    (0, 1), (1, 1), (2, 2), (3, 4), (4, 4), (5, 8), (6, 8), (7, 8), (8, 8), (9, 16),
+]
+
+power_of_two_floor_cases = [
+    (0, 1), (1, 1), (2, 2), (3, 2), (4, 4), (5, 4), (6, 4), (7, 4), (8, 8), (9, 8),
+]
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    'value,expected',
+    power_of_two_ceil_cases,
+)
+def test_get_power_of_two_ceil(value, expected):
+    assert get_power_of_two_ceil(value) == expected
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    'value,expected',
+    power_of_two_floor_cases,
+)
+def test_get_power_of_two_floor(value, expected):
+    assert get_power_of_two_floor(value) == expected