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Math/CSCI 4116, Cryptography
Fall 2014
Peter Selinger

Course Information

See the Course Information Sheet.

Announcements

Material covered on the final exam. For your convenience, I have made a detailed syllabus of all the material we covered in the course, with a list of the corresponding textbook sections. You can download it here. Please note that material marked as "extra material" is not in the textbook and will not be on the exam: this includes the proof of existence of primitive roots; the general method for computing square roots when p≡1 (mod 4), and the Pollard-Rho method for factoring.

Homeworks 7+8 available for pickup. The last two homeworks have been marked. You can pick them up from a box outside my office, Chase 303. The box also contains older unclaimed homeworks as well.

Final exam scheduled. The registrar's office has scheduled our final exam for Saturday, December 13, 8:30am, in the McInnes room of the SUB.

Welcome to the course (posted Sep 5). Here, you will find up-to-date information, including announcements, homework assignments, any handouts, etc.

Homework

  • Homework 1 (due Sep 24): 2.13 #1, 3, 5, 6, 7. Reading Assignment: Ch. 1, 2.1-7.

  • Homework 2 (due Sep 29): Handout 1 #1-3. (Note that Handout 1 is personalized; each student gets different ciphertexts. If you need your personalized handout, please email me. The lists of all ciphertexts is also available here: ciphertexts.txt).

  • Homework 3 (due Oct 10): Handout 2 #1-3. Reading Assignment: Heys, Sections 1-3 (see "Supplemental Materials" below).

  • Homework 4 (due Oct 17): Handout 2 #4-5. Reading Assignment: Heys, Section 4 (see "Supplemental Materials" below).

  • Homework 5 (due Oct 24): 3.13 #1, 4, 7, 12, 25. Reading Assignment: Ch. 3.1-9.

  • Homework 6 (due Nov 19): 6.8 #1, 6, 7, 8, 12, 16, 20. Reading Assignment: Ch. 6.1, Handout 3, Ch. 6.4.1, 7.1, 7.4-5.
    Errata. Please note that there are typos in Question 6.8 #6 in some versions of the textbook. It should say (mod n) intead of (mod p), three times. Please see here for a list of other typos in the textbook.

  • Homework 7 (due Nov 28): 7.6 #1, 6, 8, 10, 11. Reading assignment: 16.1-3 (excluding 16.3.1), 16.5 (excluding 16.5.3).

  • Homework 8 (due Dec 1): 16.7 #2, 3, 4, 5. Bonus question: 16.7 #6.
    Errata. Please note that there is a typo in Question 16.7 #5 in some versions of the textbook. It should say (2,3) instead of (0,1). Please see here for a list of other typos in the textbook.

Downloads

  • Handout 1: Problems for classic ciphers (Sep 17): [pdf].

  • Spreadsheet: Vigenere cipher example (Sep 22): The spreadsheet we created in class today. [xls].

  • Handout 2: Problems for linear and differential cryptanalysis (Oct 1): [pdf].

  • Handout 3: The Miller-Rabin Primality Test (Oct 31): [pdf].

  • Detailed course syllabus with book sections (Dec 8): [pdf].

Supplemental Materials

  • Howard M. Heys, A Tutorial on Linear and Differential Cryptanalysis (posted Sep 26): [link].

External links

Click here for a list of interesting Books and Websites related to this course.


To Peter Selinger's Homepage: [home]
Peter Selinger / Department of Mathematics and Statistics / Dalhousie University
selinger@mathstat.dal.ca / PGP key