MTH 328 - Codes & Ciphers

Course unit(s): 1
Prerequisite(s): Any 200-level MTH course.
This course is an introduction to the classical and modern methods for encoding secret messages (cryptography) and the science of breaking codes and ciphers (cryptanalysis). It blends the history of secret writing, the art of creating codes, and the mathematics underlying the theory and practice of encryption and decryption. Topics include substitution and transposition ciphers, applications of number theory to cryptanalysis, Vigenere and Hill ciphers, statistical methods in cryptanalysis, RSA encryption, and other public-key ciphers.