- Syllabus
- Online Text: Cryptology Through History and Inquiry
- Online Text PDF: Cryptology Through History and Inquiry
- Class Calendar: Your syllabus has a rough calendar of what we will be covering each class. After each class I will post what we were actually were able to cover here:
- 8-28-18: We discussed our syllabus and syllabi in general, then introduced the Cipher Chain Challenge before finally discussing the Fall 2018 Semester Opener. Try to finish deciphering the opener for Friday.
- 8-31-2018: We covered most of Chapter 1 Section 1 in Cryptology Through History and Inquiry, try to finish that for a quick discussion at the start of class Tuesday.
- 9-4-2018: We had the syllabus quiz and finished up chapter 1 section 1. Read through chapter 1 section 2 in CT&I so that we can move through it smoothly Friday.
- 9-7-2018: We had our first reading quiz and then worked through chapter 1 section 2 in CT&I, finish this up for Tuesday.
- 9-11-2018: We had our first vocabulary quiz and then practiced for the exam on Friday.
- 9-14-2018: We had our first exam today and you all did great, 100%’s all around for those who were there. (But remind me on Tuesday to talk about shift ciphers)
- 9-18-2018: We started unit 2 by looking at the first section of chapter 2 in Cryptology Through History and Inquiry. In particular we discussed qualitative and quantitative properties of language.
- 9/21/2018: We talked about the John Falconer and started reading through his commentary on frequency analysis. We will continue this, be sure to find a large sample of plain text that we can use throughout this unit to more closely examine the ideas we discuss.
- 9-25-2018: We talked about strategies for reading text for details. Then, we spent the rest of the class talking about Falconer’s second step in analyzing language. We will look at steps 3 and 4 on Friday and try some examples.
- 9-28-2018: We had the reading and vocabulary quiz and finished looking at Falconer’s recommendations for decryption.
- 10-2-1018: We spent class practicing cracking ciphers. Here is a copy of the ciphers we looked at in class, you should try finishing them on your own. Additionally you should look at problems 5, 6, and 7 from the end of chapter 2. Finally, I added a sample deciphering as an appendix at the end of the online text.
- 10-5-2018: Group Exam 2
- 10-9-2018: We went over the first part of Chapter 3 Section 1 in Cryptology Through History and Inquiry. Also, remember that you have a reading quiz this Friday on pages 45-63 in The Code Book
- 10-12-2018: We took our reading quiz, reviewed Alberti’s cipher, and then learned about Vigenere’s cipher so we are still in Chapter 3 Section 1 in Cryptology Through History and Inquiry. I corrected the typos we spotted in class, let me know if you see any others.
- 10-16-2018: Autokey Cipher (An Automatic Hit)
- 10-19-2018: Transposition Cipher (Stirring Things Up)
- 10-23-2018: Vocabulary Quiz, Review, and the Vigenere material from Presidential Secrets
- 10-26-2018: Group Exam 3
- 10-30-2018: We looked at how we could crack Falconer’s Tabular Transposition Cipher, be sure to look at the practice handout from class prior to Friday’s class.
- 11-2-2018: We practiced cracking Falconer’s Tabular Transposition Cipher. (Practice Sheet)
- 11-6-2018: We started looking at how we might crack a weak version of Vigenere’s Polyalphabetic Substitution Cipher.
- 11-9-2018:Quiz and Kasiski Test, we finished the first section on Kasiski, please read the second section before class on Tuesday.
- 11-13-2018: Kasiski Test and Practice. For Friday complete Checkpoint 4.3.3 for a quiz grade, this needs to be an individual effort.
- 11-16-2018: Practice (Practice Sheet)
- 11-20-2018: Group Exam 4
- 11-27-2018: Lester Hill’s description of Modular Arithmetic
- 11-30-2018: Reading Quiz pp. 101-127, Affine Ciphers and Hill’s Cipher
- 12-4-2018: Hill’s Cipher Continued
- 12-7-2018: Group Exam 5 (This will include questions about vocabulary and pp.127-142)
- Assignments:
- 9/25: Article Reflections: University Success Factors
- 10/2: 1st Schedule Tracking Sheet
- 10/9: Article Reflection: Time Management
- 10/16: Office Hours Signature Sheet
- 10/30: 2nd Schedule Tracking Sheet
- 11/6: Article Reflection: Taking Notes
- 11/20: Article Reflection: Stress and Anxiety
- 12/7: Final Date for Cipher Chain
- Quizzes and Exams:
- 9/4:
Syllabus Quiz – DONE
- 9/7:
Reading Quiz, pp. 1-14 – DONE
- 9/11:
Vocabulary Quiz (bring in flash cards and notebooks)
- Cipher, Monoalphabetic Substitution Cipher, Shift Cipher, Cipher Text, Plain Text, Encipher, Decipher, Crib, Null, Factorial– DONE
- 9/14:
Group Exam 1: Look at exercises 1,2,4,5,7,8,9 in How Shifty Are You? at the end of chapter 1. – DONE
- 9/21:
Reading Quiz pp. 14-25 in The Code Book. – DONE
- 9/28:
Reading and Vocabulary Quiz, pp. 26-44 in The Code Book (bring in flash cards) – DONE
- Frequency analysis, Character, Bigram, Trigram, N-gram, Cryptoanalysis, Decrypt, Arabic Scholar, Null, Steganography, Cryptography, Code, Cipher, Nomenclator
- 10/5:
Group Exam 2 – NEW DATE!!! – Done
- 10/12:
Reading Quiz, pp. 45-63 in The Code Book -DONE
- 10/23:
Vocabulary Quiz (bring in flash cards) – DONE
- Polyalphabetic Substitution Cipher, Homophonic Cipher, Polyphonic Cipher, Transposition Cipher, Automatic Cipher, Stream Cipher
- 10/26:
Group Exam 3 – DONE
- 11/9:
Reading Quiz, pp. 63-82 in The Code Book – DONE
- 11/13:
Vocabulary Quiz (bring in flash cards and notebooks) – Cancelled
- 11/20:
Group Exam 4 – DONE
- 11/30: Reading Quiz, pp. 101-127 in The Code Book
- 12/7: Reading and Vocabulary Quiz, pp. 127-142 in The Code Book (bring in flash cards and notebooks):
- modular equivalence, multiplicative identity, multiplicative inverse, additive identity, additive inverse, relatively prime, matrix, polygraphic cipher
- Extra Credit: Maximum of +5%
- Attend a Workshop – Earn 0.5% extra toward your final grade for each workshop you attend
Time Management and Organization, September 10 12:30 – 1:30, SC 226
Student Affairs – Resources and Activities on Campus: Tuesday 9/11 or Wednesday 9/12 @4pm in SB 125
Study Skills for Math & Science Courses, September 17th 12:30 – 1:30, SC 226
Resources and Information: Wednesday 9/19 or Tuesday 11/27 @ 4pm in SB 125
Campus Resource Panel hosted by the Psych Alliance, Thursday 9/20, 2:30-4:30 in the Student Center Theater
A Crash Course in Textbook Reading, September 24 12: 30 – 1:30, SC 226
Study Skills (get ready for midterms), October 1 12:30 – 1:30, SC 226
Writing a Thesis, October 10 12:30 – 1:30, SC 226
Nuts and Bolts of Registration: Tuesday 10/16 or Wednesday 10/17 @ 4pm in SB 125
- Getting of on the Right Foot For Your Future with Career Services:
Tuesday 11/6 or Wednesday 11/14 @ 4pm in SB 125
- Stress Management, November 14 12:30 – 1:30, SC 226
- Final Exam Prep, November 26th 12:30 – 1:30, SC 226
- Small Sample of Campus Involvement Activities: (There is something to do every day!) – Earn 0.5% extra toward your final grade for each activity you attend. More events can be found at http://www.wcsu.edu/wow/ and http://www.westconnathletics.com/landing/index
- 9/25/19 from 8 to 10 p.m. Roller Rave with PAC and REC, this is a student only event held in the Feldman Arena of the O’Neill Center, skates will be provided
- 9/26/18 at 6 p.m. WCSU Women’s Soccer will be Playing against ECSU at the Westside Athletic Complex
- 9/27/18 at 8 p.m. the Coffeehouse in the Colonial Corner in the Midtown Student Center will have an open mic night followed by the WCSU Student Jazz Ensemble
- 9/28/18 at 8 p.m. in the Westside Student Center Ballroom there will be a screening of “Incredibles 2”
- 9/29/18 at 6:30 p.m. there is a planetarium show followed by a telescope viewing from 7:30 to 9:30. All this is at the Westside Observatory and Planetarium
- 9/30/18 at 1 p.m. WCSU Women’s Tennis vs. UMASS-Dartmouth at the Westside Courts
- Links and Handouts: