I suspect the world would be better if that percentage were even greater.
Progress on Exhibit 1
Okay, I think I’ve figured out the problem with my code that back propagates cipher wheels to the beginning of the code, and ran it on Exhibit 1 again. It actually matches 603 characters of input, then stalls, after searching 1.8 billion cipher encoding possibilities. I am now trying to figure out if it is a typo in the original, or some slim bug that causes it to go awry.
Because others might be pursuing their own solution of this issue, I’ll hold off on publishing the key that I’ve recovered for a bit longer. If anyone needs it, let me know, and I’ll send you the spoiler.
Addendum: There is a typo in the version of the cipher text that I downloaded from the Chaoscipher clearing house. I’ll write up more when I’ve learned more.
Addendum2: More than one transcription error. More later.
Comment from Moshe Rubin
Time 7/11/2010 at 12:16 am
Hi mark,
You wouldn’t happen to be referring to the typo I commented about on July 8th? 🙂
https://brainwagon.org/2010/07/08/progress-on-the-chaocipher/#comment-267005
This typo would cause a Chaocipher solver to choke on a garble, Regarding other transcription errors, these are in the plaintext as listed in “Silent Years”, but I believe they do not stop your solver from working.
Moshe