Six Year Old Cryptographer

Welcome to Crypto. We hope you enjoy your visit.

You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free.

Join our community!

If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features:

Six Year Old Cryptographer; My son solves his first monosub!
Topic Started: Nov 11 2005, 02:59 PM (321 Views)
Donald	Nov 11 2005, 02:59 PM Post #1
Elite member Posts: 454 Group: Trusted Member Member #8 Joined: September 2, 2005	Not to brag... Ok, forget that, I AM bragging! My 6 year old son just solved his first monosub. He's at home sick, and in order to occupy him my wife gave him a cryptogram for kids from one of her magazines. It was designed for older kids, full of big words, but he dug into it anyway. It gave him four letters as a crib. And, since he is just bearly learning to read, Mom and Dad had to help a lot, BUT, he did a surprising amount of it all by himself. He figured out that if a word ends in IN_ the last letter was probably G. He correctly guessed that _OOL was COOL, FRO_ was FROM, and LO_E was LOVE, and lots of other words. He started it yesterday and just finished it this morning. He is now demanding that Daddy make him another one to do. And he wants this one to have a keyword so he can figure out what the letters were that weren't in the message. Well, ok, the NSA isn't going to be offering us a scholarship any time soon, but still, the amateur cryptographer daddy is beaming. Donald



insecure	Nov 11 2005, 03:08 PM Post #2
Elite member Posts: 381 Group: Trusted Member Member #10 Joined: September 9, 2005	No doubt he'll break his first Vigenere by the time he's seven. And he'll be reading your private correspondence before he's eight.



rot13	Nov 11 2005, 03:45 PM Post #3
Elite member Posts: 306 Group: Trusted Member Member #14 Joined: September 29, 2005	That's awesome!



rot13	Nov 11 2005, 04:29 PM Post #4
Elite member Posts: 306 Group: Trusted Member Member #14 Joined: September 29, 2005	I have tried to get my grandkids interested in cryptography, but they just don't seem to dig it. They prefer Everquest :(, but at least they do occasionally play Scrabble. My wife doesn't really get into it, either. My step-dad, who did some cryptography during the Korean War, seems to be the only one in my family who likes it. I wish I could get him to talk about what he did, but I guess he worries that some of it may still be classified.



Donald	Nov 11 2005, 04:52 PM Post #5
Elite member Posts: 454 Group: Trusted Member Member #8 Joined: September 2, 2005	"insecure" And he'll be reading your private correspondence before he's eight. Naught Naughty! You cracked Daddy's 256 bit AES key. Go directly to bed without supper! But, uhm, FIRST, lets play with some banking codes... "rot13" My step-dad, who did some cryptography during the Korean War, seems to be the only one in my family who likes it. I wish I could get him to talk about what he did, but I guess he worries that some of it may still be classified. Cool! But yeah, the military pounds security into soldiers brains pretty hard. My Dad was based in Germany about that time and there are still missions he was involved in that he won't talk about. And there wasn't even an OFFICIAL war going on over there. "rot13" I have tried to get my grandkids interested in cryptography, but they just don't seem to dig it. They prefer Everquest I'm very lucky. My boy doesn't watch much TV and has limited computer game time (about 30 min a day, and mostly educational). He likes board games that are complicated enough that I can enjoy them (Stratego, Chess, Risk, Cathedral, etc). He has a most EXCELLENT lego collection, and he likes being read to. He has had an interest in encryption for several months now. (Ceaser ciphers and invisible inks), but I didn't think he was up to actual cracking yet. But then, his mother always knows better than his father. Which is a bit strange, because the entire cryptography thing bores her to tears. She learns latin for the fun of it, but I can't get her to read Singh, let alone Kahn. Anyway, I've obviously got to work up a small challenge sometime this afternoon. He's insisting it involve a hidden treasure hunt with the clues in code. Donald



cows	Nov 11 2005, 05:02 PM Post #6
Advanced Member Posts: 91 Group: New Members Member #20 Joined: October 10, 2005	"donald" Well, ok, the NSA isn't going to be offering us a scholarship any time soon, but still, the amateur cryptographer daddy is beaming. Give it till he's 16 and I bet there will be - maybe even sooner!!!!!! Especially if he masters a new form of cipher every few months. I wish I could have gotten into ciphers earlier and had a cool dad like donald, who likes cryptography. My Dad just wants to be involved in stuff I do - but I don't think he really gets it, as i only showed him a monosub and he just went through all the different combinations of the letters, not frequency analysing anything. Never know, he could be breaking RSA by the time he's 40
	Everything is possible, The impossible just takes longer If we do not know what a particle is doing then it is allowed t do everything possible simultaneously. "Anyone who can contemplate Quantum Mechanics without getting dizzy, didn't understand it."


Donald	Nov 11 2005, 05:23 PM Post #7
Elite member Posts: 454 Group: Trusted Member Member #8 Joined: September 2, 2005	"cows" as i only showed him a monosub and he just went through all the different combinations of the letters, not frequency analysing anything. Then it's up to you to teach him how to doe frequency analysis! "cows" I wish I could have gotten into ciphers earlier and had a cool dad like donald Oh, trust me, I'm quite certain you would have a VERY different opinion if I actually were your dad. When you live with someone, then you get to see all of their faults up close and in color. You'll find that your dad seems a LOT smarter when YOU grow up. To quote Mark Twain: "When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years." --Mark Twain



cows	Nov 11 2005, 06:09 PM Post #8
Advanced Member Posts: 91 Group: New Members Member #20 Joined: October 10, 2005	I have tried to teach him frequency analysis but he doesn't seem to understand it properly. Or he just thinks that his way is quicker - which it is but it defeats the point of cryptography for fun. No offense Donald - but all I meant by I wish i had a cool dad like Donald - is a crypto dad - my dad's into computers, and i probably wouldn't have been able to use a computer properly when i was 3 or 4 but it would have been cool to have a crypto dad. Not saying that i'm not happy with my dad or that i don't think he's clever - cause he is - but in a different way. --edit-- Of the topic - I'd just like to relish in the fact that I am now an advanced member of the crypto forums im so happy lol
	Everything is possible, The impossible just takes longer If we do not know what a particle is doing then it is allowed t do everything possible simultaneously. "Anyone who can contemplate Quantum Mechanics without getting dizzy, didn't understand it."


rot13	Nov 11 2005, 07:03 PM Post #9
Elite member Posts: 306 Group: Trusted Member Member #14 Joined: September 29, 2005	cows Nov 11 2005, 06:09 PM Of the topic - I'd just like to relish in the fact that I am now an advanced member of the crypto forums im so happy lol Yeah, when I became super member, I thought maybe I should have a big S on my chest. Then I realized that, being ROT13, it should be a big F.



Donald	Nov 11 2005, 07:06 PM Post #10
Elite member Posts: 454 Group: Trusted Member Member #8 Joined: September 2, 2005	"rot13" it should be a big F. HA!!!!!!



Revelation	Nov 11 2005, 09:33 PM Post #11
Administrator Posts: 386 Group: Admin Member #1 Joined: August 23, 2005	Congratulations with your Crypto-kid Donald I wonder when he is able to crack "Problems in the Cold war" (fixed version) I made the rank names up myself. When you get >500, your title will be NSA worthy
	RRRREJMEEEEEPVKLWENFNVJKEEEEEAOLKAFKLXCFZAASDJXZTTTTTTTLSIOWJXMOKLAFJNNKFNXN RAGRBAQEMHIGDJVDSEOXVIYCELFHWLELJFIENXLRATALSJFSLCYTKLASJDKMHGOVOKAJDNMNUITN RRRRLJVEEEEECLYVYHNVPFTAEEEEEMWLMEIRNGLARWJAKJDFLWNTIERJMIPQWOTZEOCXKNUBNXCN RJIRPOWEANFUSNCZVDVZNMSFEKLOEPZLDKDJWSAAAAAAAOERHJCTNCKFRIMVKSOFOMKMANREWNBN RZUDRGXEEEEENFQIDVLQNCKNEEEEEDGLLLLLLAWIOSNCDARLODMTOEJXMILDFJROTKJSDNLVCZNN


1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous)


« Previous Topic · Community · Next Topic »