Mysterious Messages: The Secret

World of Codes and Ciphers

1. What is the name for a person who specialises in codes and ciphers?


2. Explain what a code is.



3. What is a cipher?


4. What is the purpose of a key?



5. Why are codes and ciphers useful?



6. Who is the Caesar Shift Cipher named after?



7. When and where did the Dancing Men Cipher first appear?


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 Mysterious Messages: The Secret World of Codes and Ciphers

8. How does the Rail Fence Cipher work?



 

9. Identify two purposes for an 18th century lady’s fan.



10. Which major event did the military codename of Operation Overlord apply to?


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Mysterious Messages: The Secret
World of Codes and Ciphers - Answers
1. What is the name for a person who specialises in codes and ciphers?
A cryptologist
2. Explain what a code is.
A code uses letters, numbers and symbols to transform a message.
3. What is a cipher?
A cipher uses a process called an algorithm to transform a message into something
else.
4. What is the purpose of a key?
A key unlocks the code or algorithm – it could be symbols, letter placement or
numbering.
5. Why are codes and ciphers useful?
Codes and ciphers are useful as they have been used throughout history to
transport secret messages or important information.
6. Who is the Caesar Shift Cipher named after?
Julius Caesar
7. When and where did the Dancing Men Cipher first appear?
The dancing men cipher first appeared in 1903, in the Sherlock Holmes story The
Adventure of the Dancing Men by Arthur Conan Doyle.
8. How does the Rail Fence Cipher work?
The Rail Fence Cipher is a transposition cipher where the message is read
diagonally up and down. It scrambles up the letters, thus hiding the message. To
solve the cipher, count the individual letters in the scrambled message to create
the right number of columns, then deduce the correct number of rows needed to
read the message. The row number is the key.
9. Identify two purposes for an 18th century lady’s fan.
A lady’s fan was used to keep the lady cool but also to communicate flirtatious
messages with corresponding gestures.
10. Which major event did the military codename of Operation Overlord apply to?
D-Day, 6th June 1944