Young codebreakers get ready to take on UK National Cipher Challenge

R. A. Hettinga rah at shipwright.com
Sat Oct 18 21:29:43 EDT 2003


In Wessex, at least, they use "ci", instead of "cy"...

:-)

Cheers,
RAH
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<http://www.wessexscene.co.uk/print.php?sid=638>

The Wessex Scene Online

Young codebreakers get ready to take on National Cipher Challenge
Date: Saturday, October 18 @ 22:05:26 BST
Topic: Computers

For the second year running the University of Southampton is challenging
young people across the UK to try their hand at cracking codes with its
National Cipher Challenge , sponsored by the EPSRC, IBM, Bletchley Park and
EducationGuardian.co.uk.


Over five hundred teams from across the UK had already registered to take
part in this year's competition before it was launched, with a total of 500
young codebreakers ready to test their skills. With the first encrypted
message now posted on the competition website, the organizers are expecting
many more to follow suit.

The competition is designed to capture the enthusiasm of young people and
to demonstrate the excitement of mathematics and computing. It is open to
entries from schools, teams and individuals from around the country and
last year attracted over 2,000 entries from more than 250 schools.

The prize fund is worth £5,000 and overall winners will be invited to a
public prize-giving at Bletchley Park, where British codebreakers broke the
German Enigma code in the Second World War.

The organiser of this year's competition is Dr Graham Niblo of the
University of Southampton's Department of Mathematics. He comments: 'It was
said by Niels Ferguson, one of the leading cryptographers of his
generation, that cryptography was "just about the most fun you can have
with mathematics". We agree with that sentiment and hope that the Cipher
Challenge will help to counter the frequent bad news about the decline in
popularity of school mathematics.'

The competition comprises a series of eight enciphered messages, forming
part of the Journal belonging to the famous (and fictional) archaeologist
Agatha Highfield, telling of her adventures as she tried to obtain the
Babylon Stone, a legendary, and possibly cursed, tablet inscribed with
Babylonian mathematics.

Frustrated by rivals and pursued by mysterious foreign agents she follows
the only clue she has, recording her adventures in her (encrypted) diary.
The first encrypted message is now on the competition website and further
episodes will be released in the period leading up to Christmas. As the
story unfolds the ciphers get harder to crack and the prizes get bigger.

Competitors will win prizes for fast and accurate decryptions of the pages
of the Journal, and will be assisted throughout the adventure by Harry
Schulz Vandiver, mathematician and private investigator, who will act as
guide and mentor through the competition website. Competitors will also
receive email feedback if they get stuck, helping them to find and correct
their own mistakes.

Simon Singh, author of The Code Book, believes that the Cipher Challenge
can inspire young people: 'It shows how maths can be applied in the real
world and generates a real excitement around the subject. The challenge
also highlights how maths and cryptography is all around us, from Internet
security to encrypting mobile phone calls,' he says.

Last year's competition grabbed the attention of the participants with its
unusual blend of adventure and mathematics, to the point where some
participants found it hard to let go. As one participant's mother remarked:
'Great competition-we even had to visit a New Forest pub to get Internet
access during our half-term holiday!'š

The competition web site can be found at www.maths.soton.ac.uk/cipher , and
there is a teachers' pack which can be downloaded in pdf format at
www.maths.soton.ac.uk/cipher/teacherspack.pdf , consisting of three lesson
plans and a brief guide to codebreaking.




-- 
-----------------
R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

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