Re: VMs: Random Text Generation

[Nick Pelling <incoming@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> > I don't currently know if any of the 15th Century number codes mentioned 
> > in the crypto literature (such as that used for the most part by the 
> > Strozzi) were ever written in Roman numerals - does anyone here know of any?
>
> I don't know of any, but can think of a reason why they might not have 
> been used.  Roman numerals contain inherent patterns; i, ii, iii, iv - 
> these would be very handy clues for a would-be decipherer.  The Arabic 
> numerals, however, offer no such points of entry.

A number code (ie a code) is just a set of indices into a dictionary - so 
it shouldn't matter whether it's in Arabic numerals or in Roman numerals. 
Yet all the examples I've seen have been in the former... but the idea must 
predate (say) 1440 for sure.

______________________________________________________________________
To unsubscribe, send mail to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxx with a body saying:
unsubscribe vms-list