An alternative, of course, is to use a statistical method: use the chi-squared test (see Mathworld).
Let F_a(x) be the frequency of some letter, x, in you're alphabet, and let F_m(x) be the frequency of some letter, x, in the message. Now, for all 0 <= s <= 25 calculate for each letter, x, in your alphabet the sum of the squares of F_m((x + s)(mod 26)) / F_a(x). The value of s for which this obtains a minimum is the shift used to encipher the message.
-
Are you posting in the right place? Check out Where do I post X? to know for sure.
-
Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags. Currently these include the following:
<code> <a> <b> <big>
<blockquote> <br /> <dd>
<dl> <dt> <em> <font>
<h1> <h2> <h3> <h4>
<h5> <h6> <hr /> <i>
<li> <nbsp> <ol> <p>
<small> <strike> <strong>
<sub> <sup> <table>
<td> <th> <tr> <tt>
<u> <ul>
-
Snippets of code should be wrapped in
<code> tags not
<pre> tags. In fact, <pre>
tags should generally be avoided. If they must
be used, extreme care should be
taken to ensure that their contents do not
have long lines (<70 chars), in order to prevent
horizontal scrolling (and possible janitor
intervention).
-
Want more info? How to link
or How to display code and escape characters
are good places to start.
|