VMs: Re: VMS: the "Mario cipher" again. Last of it I hope.

["Jeff" <jeff@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Jacques Guy jguy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote
Subject: VMs: VMS: the "Mario cipher" again. Last of it I hope.


> Unexpected results coming up...
>
> I have already called "Mario" that Papal cipher that uses
> a 5x5 grid to produce a stream of digits. Let me distinguish
> between that "Mario proper" and my "20-letter Mario" by
> calling the original one "Mario-10" and mine "Mario-20".
>
> I took my THES book review and enciphered it into both
> (I reduced the English alphabet to 25 by replacing every
> 'z' with 's'):
>
>    Plaintext    Mario-10    Mario-20
> h0  4.70044     3.32193     4.32193
> h1  4.15998     3.21802     4.21734
> h2  3.53698     2.38840     2.28870
> h3  2.65030     2.08113     1.98587
>
> Next, I took Galileo's dedication to Cosimo de Medici of his
> Sidereus Nuncius. Here is an excerpt:
>
> Praeclarvm sane atqve hvmanitatis plenvm eorvm fvit
> institvtvm, qvi excellentivm virtvte virorvm res
> praeclare gestas ab invidia tvtari, eorvmqve immortalitate
> digna nomina ab oblivione atqve interitv vindicare,
> conati svnt.
>
> Here are the results:
>
>    Plaintext    Mario-10    Mario-20
> h0  4.45943     3.32193     4.32193
> h1  3.91803     3.25482     4.25126
> h2  3.37095     2.26053     2.15267
> h3  2.67525     1.93378     1.84085
>
> We have there very Voynich-like figures, except for
> h1 which, in both cases, is very close to h0.
>
> The surprising thing is how Mario-20 _increases_ h1.
> Well, with hindsight and thinking about it a bit,
> it is not so surprising after all.
>
> Now, let me imagine myself the author of the VMS.
>
> I want to use a "Mario" cipher, but I certainly do
> not want to look up a 5x5 grid for every letter
> I encipher. The easy solution is to draw up
> a single-substitution cipher consisting entirely
> of digraphs, the first member of which is drawn
> from a subset of the alphabet, the second from
> another subset of the alphabet, the two having
> no intersection, e.g.:
>
> a   cf
> b   lo
> c   ca
> d   ci
> e   cm
> f   li
> g   cj
>
> and so on. Call the first letter of each
> digraph its "initial", the second its "final"
>
> Once I have memorized this alphabet (not difficult),
> I can directly  "write in Mario". Example:
>
> Plaintext: dad
>
> 1. d => ci
> 2. a => cf oh! same initial, omit it: => f
> 3. d => ci     same initial, omit it: => i
>
> cipher: cifi
>
> Plaintext: deaf
>
> 1. d => ci
> 2. e => cm... oh! same initial, so omit it: => m
> 3. a => cf        same initial, so omit it: => f
> 4. l => li  new initial, so keep it: => li
>
> cipher: cimfli
>
>
> Using this system two sets of five letters each are
> sufficient, but I  my cipher to be more secure,
> without complicating the encipherment process.
>
> Easy: I assign two shapes to each letter, one
> "straight", the other "curly", and I make up
> this rule: straight after straight, curly after
> curly. So for instance:
>
> "straight" version:  iiiv
> "curly" version:     cccu
>
> Now doesn't that remind you of Voynichese?
>
> I can break the rule any time I like: that
> will not impair the decipherment.
>
> I can insert nulls any time I like by writing
> several initials in succession: only the last
> one is functional.
>
> Finally, there is no compelling reason for my
> diagraphs to fit in a 5x5 grid, nor for each
> and every letter to have two forms. As long
> as the set of initials does not intersect
> the set of finals, all is well: the cipher works.
>
> So, we have here a cipher which reduces the
> entropy of the plaintext and exhibits the
> same "shape harmony" as the VMS.
>
> Do I believe this to be the solution?
>
> Yes and no.
>
> 1. Yes, because it fits nicely.
>
> 2. No, because it is very easy to crack and so,
> if it was the solution, the VMS would have been
> deciphered long ago.
>
> Twenty years ago I found a solution to the
> 4-colour problem.  Very simple and elegant.
> But I never bothered because I reasoned that,
> if it was a valid solution, it would have been
> discovered long ago. So there just had to be
> a flaw somewhere in my proof.
>
> In the same manner, I cannot bring myself to
> seriously believe that the "Extended Mario Cipher"
> is the solution to the VMS. It might be, but
> I doubt it.
>
>

What about a Mario cipher with triplets instead of the pairs you suggest.
The initials could have the same function. The following pairs could have
their own initials etc.

Jeff


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