Event Title
The Fixed Points of the Columnar Transposition Cipher
Presentation Type
Oral and/or Visual Presentation
Presenter Major(s)
Mathematics, Economics
Mentor Information
Robert Talbert
Department
Mathematics
Location
Kirkhof Center 2259
Start Date
10-4-2013 12:00 AM
End Date
10-4-2013 12:00 AM
Keywords
Mathematical Science, Technology
Abstract
Encrypting a message scrambles it so that it is unreadable to outsiders. A columnar transposition cipher encrypts a message by writing the plaintext across a specific number of columns. Then, one reads down the columns to find the encrypted message. This project investigates the occurrence of characters that do not move when encrypted, and finds a constant time algorithm to determine these characters. We are also interested in maximizing the number of times that a message must be re-encrypted in order for the original text to be found. We look at how the number of columns and length of message affect both of these phenomena.
The Fixed Points of the Columnar Transposition Cipher
Kirkhof Center 2259
Encrypting a message scrambles it so that it is unreadable to outsiders. A columnar transposition cipher encrypts a message by writing the plaintext across a specific number of columns. Then, one reads down the columns to find the encrypted message. This project investigates the occurrence of characters that do not move when encrypted, and finds a constant time algorithm to determine these characters. We are also interested in maximizing the number of times that a message must be re-encrypted in order for the original text to be found. We look at how the number of columns and length of message affect both of these phenomena.