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[
Project Title: Decrypting
Historical Ciphers ]
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Schedule
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 Supervising faculty
members: Prof.
DING, Cunsheng &
Prof.
Mordecai Golin |
| Project description
and objectives:
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Codes
or ciphers are methods
for transforming messages
(called plaintext) into
unreadable text (called
ciphertext) using a
secret one-to-one function.
The original message
can be recovered from
the ciphertext using
the inverse of the one-to-one
function. The process
of transforming a piece
of message into a piece
of ciphertext is called
encryption, and the
inverse process is referred
to as decryption. The
Roman Emperor JULIUS
CAESAR’s code
will transform the message
“LOVE” into
the ciphertext “ORZH”.
Codes
and ciphers have been
used since ancient
times (c. 1900 B.C.).
Below is the “Dancing
Men Cipher (about
1587)”.
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The
picture on the right
side above shows ciphertext
on a gold bar from China
(about 1930’s),
which is still not decrypted.
Ciphers have played
a very important role
in the two world wars.
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The
left one above is the
Japanese cipher machine
used in World War II,
and the right one is
called SIGBA which was
used by the US Army
in World War II and
was the only cipher
machine remain completely
unbroken during that
time. During the World
War II, 60 Japanese
navy codes and many
German codes were broken
(decrypted) by the Allies.
This made significant
contributions to the
defeat of the Japanese
and Germans in the World
War II.
Traditionally,
ciphers are crucial
for diplomatic and military
communications. Nowadays,
they are widely used.
Police organizations,
government officials,
banks, business companies,
gangsters, mafia, and
ordinary people are
using ciphers because
ciphers are incorporated
in our mobile phones,
fax machines and computers.
Without ciphers on-line
banking and shopping
would not be possible.
Hence ciphers have changed
our daily life.
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| Language of instruction: |
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English |
| Software tools
/ programming languages
involved: |
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Not
essential. Will be determined
after conversation with
students as to what
languages they know. |
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Deliverables:
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In
this project, you are
asked to decrypt a cipher
that was designed and
used in human history.
Details of the cipher
and background information
will be given later.
This
project is divided into
three phases. In the
first phase, you are
asked to read several
references books for
obtaining the basic
knowledge of ciphers
and their history. In
the second phase, you
will read one reference
on decrypting ciphers.
In the last phase, you
will be given the ciphertext
and are asked to decrypt
it.
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| Things students
will learn: |
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By working on this project,
you will learn the basics
of the design and analysis
of ciphers. You will
also obtain knowledge
about several fascinating
areas of mathematics.
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| Prerequisites: |
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An
interest and good capability
in school mathematics
and some basic experience
in programming (no specific
language is needed).
Although the project
will need some new mathematics,
it is self contained
and the new knowledge
needed will be provided
in handouts and a few
introductory lectures. |
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