Monday, September 5, 2005

Calling the cryptographer in you...

112 123 249 389 000 249 488 000 224 267 578 103 000 159 000 299 249 607

234 235 168 000 220 168 389 130 000 112 357 000 488 168 168 000 111 114

357 000 249 578 000 103 204 168 000 110 168 236 456 000 588 168 299 220

000 159 130 000 223 168 239 357 124 249 378 129 000 112 105 168 000 389

357 505 267 103 249 357 279 000 220 357 000 130 123 249 488 000 578 249

229 333 109 168 000 299 267 399 389 112 249 103 267 220 249 357 477

000 249 130 000 114 159 488 000 159 000 244 249 112 103 235 168 000 220

120 249 578 130 000 112 204 159 103 000 456 357 267 000 346 249 336 105

220 000 123 159 200 168 000 157 249 299 389 168 133 000 130 114 168 245

168 000 159 335 168 000 128 168 159 505 109 456 000 112 300 357 000 455

357 205 168 488 000 489 267 103 000 249 289 000 456 357 267 236 168 000

245 168 159 223 249 189 246 000 220 204 249 578 000 456 357 267 000 188

378 357 210

11 comments:

  1. The indentation of the one line doesn't mean anything...if you need a hint, email me at cari_burud@hotmail.com. If no one answers in a week, I will post the first clue.

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  2. Dave got it! Good job, Dave! You get a cookie. For real. Any other takers? I will mail you a chocolate chip cookie if you get it right!

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  3. I edited the formatting and re-published to make the post look better in crappy browsers (like what I have to use at work). Tell me if I completely destroyed the hidden secret message or something.

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  4. - .... . / .-. . ... .. -.. . -. - / -- ..- .-. .-.. --- -.-.September 7, 2005 at 8:47 PM

    .. / .... .- ...- . / -. --- / .. -.. . .- / .-- .... .- - / - .... . / .... .. -.. -.. . -. / -- . ... ... .- --. . / .. ...


    ~ .-. .-.. .-. .-.. .-. .-.. .-. .-.. .-. .-.. .-.. .-. .-.. --. .-. .-.. --. .-. .-.. --. .-.. --. .-.. --. .-.. --. .-.. --. .-.. ~

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  5. I solved it through brute force. It wasn't until after I finished it that I saw the trick. Those interested can ask me for the Excel spreadsheet I used.

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  6. Good job, Joe! Wow, impressive spreadsheet. As promised, I will send a cookie! But that will have to be when I can stand the thought/sight/smell/taste of food...I could just send a store bought cookie, but my home made chocolate chippers are just too darn good (if I do say so myself).

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  7. Clever code, Cari! More interesting than the ordinary kind. It has a kind of elegance. I solved it once I saw the pattern. Has any non-Belland figured it out yet?

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  8. Good job, Mom B! I don't think any non-Belland has even attempted, but I still have to see who the Morse poster was...

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  9. How sad to be the lone humanities major in a family of math whizzes... I wouldn't even know where to start!
    (btw Cari, try B vitamins. They licked my morning sickness overnight! I highly recommend Premesis -- you have to get the prescription from your doc though)

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  10. Hi Jenny! I just may try those B vitamins. To solve the puzzle, note a few things: 000 appears quite frequently and is actually a space delimiter in between words. There are two ways to solve the cipher: 1) do a frequency analysis on the triplets (ie, which set of three numbers appears most frequently? which next frequently? etc.), or 2) add the triplets together to get the main substitution cipher, and then do a frequency analysis on it. A frequency analysis is just what it sounds like: calculate which numbers appear most frequently to least frequently. E is the most common letter of the English language, followed by T, A, O, and I (see Sherlock Holmes' Mystery of the Dancing Men for an amusing story about codes and frequency analysis). For a complete list of letters and their frequencies, see http://www.richkni.co.uk/php/crypta/freq.php.
    Then, match the number frequency with the letter frequency, and you will begin to see the solution. However, there is a small twist, but you should see right through it once you're on the right track. Good luck!

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