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Code and ciphers: Julius Caesar, the Enigma and the internet

Code and ciphers: Julius Caesar, the Enigma and the internet

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interested reader can find it in [9.1], but as fur<strong>the</strong>r evidence here is part of<br />

a full-sized example with data generated on an actual <strong>Enigma</strong> machine.<br />

The example is worked out in detail in <strong>the</strong> article [9.1] referred to.<br />

Example 9.2<br />

From a batch of two-letter indicators, consisting of doublets enciphered<br />

on an <strong>Enigma</strong> at a common ground setting, <strong>the</strong> following set of 26, sorted<br />

by <strong>the</strong> first letter of <strong>the</strong> enciphered indicator, have been extracted:<br />

AB BQ CD DK EZ FF GH HC IR JT KS LP ML<br />

NU OO PI QN RA SJ TV UM VY WX XW YG ZE<br />

The <strong>Enigma</strong> cipher machine 127<br />

Form <strong>the</strong> ‘chains’.<br />

Starting with A we have <strong>the</strong> chain ABQNUMLPIR of length 10.<br />

Since C hasn’t occurred we now start with that <strong>and</strong> find CDKSJTVYGH,<br />

also of length 10.<br />

Since E is not in ei<strong>the</strong>r of <strong>the</strong>se chains we start with that <strong>and</strong> find <strong>the</strong><br />

chain EZ, of length 2.<br />

F is still missing <strong>and</strong> we see that it goes to itself, producing a chain of<br />

length 1, F.<br />

O, W <strong>and</strong> X are <strong>the</strong> remaining letters <strong>and</strong> we see from <strong>the</strong> list that<br />

O goes to itself producing a second chain of length 1, O,<br />

<strong>and</strong> W, X go to each o<strong>the</strong>r, producing a second chain of length 2, WX.<br />

In summary <strong>the</strong>n we have:<br />

Two chains of length 10: ABQNUMLPIR <strong>and</strong> CDKSJTVYGH.<br />

Two chains of length 2 : EZ <strong>and</strong> WX.<br />

Two chains of length 1 : F <strong>and</strong> O.<br />

Had <strong>the</strong> 26 doublets not been enciphered at <strong>the</strong> same setting of <strong>the</strong><br />

same wheel, R1, we would have had contradictions in <strong>the</strong> cipher doublets,<br />

having on <strong>the</strong> one h<strong>and</strong> AB, say, <strong>and</strong> also ano<strong>the</strong>r pair, such as AF. The very<br />

existence of a unique set of 26 non-contradicting pairs supports <strong>the</strong><br />

hypo<strong>the</strong>sis that R1 was <strong>the</strong> same for all of <strong>the</strong>m <strong>and</strong> nothing else moved.<br />

In order to be able to obtain <strong>the</strong> chains we need sufficient messages to<br />

provide indicators beginning with each of <strong>the</strong> 26 letters of <strong>the</strong> alphabet.<br />

If <strong>the</strong> indicators are chosen at r<strong>and</strong>om many initial letters will occur<br />

twice or more, <strong>and</strong> so we would expect to need many more than 26 messages<br />

before we find 26 indicators beginning with <strong>the</strong> 26 different letters<br />

of <strong>the</strong> alphabet. How many messages might we need? It can be shown<br />

ma<strong>the</strong>matically that we would probably need about 100 messages.

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