Introduction to Cryptography

Math 4161 3.0
Tuesday, Thursday 1-2:30pm    TEL 1005

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Professor Mike Zabrocki
Office: TEL 3046
Office Hours: Tuesday 2:30-4 or by appointment
e-mail : my e-mail
web page: http://garsia.math.yorku.ca/~zabrocki
course web page: http://garsia.math.yorku.ca/~zabrocki/math4161f05
TA: Anouk Bergeron-Brlek
Office: TEL 3043
Office Hours: Wednesdays 2-3pm
e-mail: my e-mail


Announcements:

Dec 22 - I have posted the final grades for the course under the 'grades' page.

Dec 6 - I have posted all the quiz grades under the header 'grades.' Please look yours up and verify that they agree with the scores on the papers that you have.

Dec 5 - The final exam will be held on Saturday, December 10th at 7-10pm in Vari Hall D. It will not cover the material from the whole course but instead will concentrate on number theory and modern cryptographic systems since there is plenty of material from these last couple of weeks to keep you occupied for 3 hours. The TA and I will each hold a review session covering the practice problems for the final which will be given to you on Tuesday, December 6th in class (b there or b square). The TAs review session will be Wednesday, December 7th from 2:30-3:30pm in Ross N501 and I will hold a similar review session Friday, December 9th from 3:30-4:30pm in Ross N501. It is not necessary to attend both since we will be covering the same material. You can always email either of us if you have other questions.

Oct 28 - You should all have gotten your computer assignments by e-mail. If you have not send me a message at once to let me know. The day after I sent it, 6 or so students sent me their answers. It really can be done in about 10 minutes and it is worth 20% of your grade. DON'T WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE. The last thing you need is to find just before it is due (on or before November 10) is that the program doesn't work on your computer and you can't do it. I won't accept this as an excuse! If it doesn't work on your computer use another one or another browser (like Netscape or Firefox).

Oct 27 - Preliminary announcements of the exam schedule has our exam on Saturday, December 10 at 7pm in VH D (this is Vari Hall, right?)

Oct 26 - Want a clear explanation of unicity distance? The TA will hold office hours at her office in TEL 3043 from 2-3pm.

Oct 25 - There was a serious crash of the web server. Much information was lost. I will try to reconstruct it but it will take a while.

There will be no office hours for the TA on October 12, 2006 - the next quiz will be on Thurs., Oct. 20 and there will be office hours for the professor Tues. Oct 18 and for the TA Wed. Oct 19.

REMINDER: Office hours 2-3pm, Wednesday, September 28. TEL 3043

September 23, 2005: I corrected the slide on the flow chart describing the game of craps (remove the 'or 11' in the diamond at the bottom of the flow chart.

There will be a quiz on Thursday September 29. The TA will hold office hours on Wednesday September 28, 2-3pm and I will hold office hours Tuesday Septemeber 27, 2:30-4pm. There is an overhead with a practice problem on it we will do in class (page 16). You should practice by doing that problem before Tuesday because it is similar to the material that will be on the quiz.

September 17, 2005: Office hours on Monday, September 19 at 2pm are in TEL 3046 (my office). The TA will normally hold some office hours before the quiz but cannot this week.

Course Description : This course is an introduction to probability theory, information theory and number theory and their application to cryptography.  The development of these topics in the class follows roughly the historical development of mathematical tools used in making and breaking codes.  The class begins with an introduction to some classical codes such as Ceasar shift, Vigenere, ADFGVX, Homophonic substitution, rectangular substitution, and others.   Other topics include: comma free codes, perfect secrecy, index of coincidence, public key systems, primality testing and factorization algorithms.


Text : The text for the course will be 'Cryptography: an introduction' by Nigel Smart.  It will be available at the bookstore at the end of September.  We won't be covering the material in the book until mid-October.  Before then the 'course text' will be based on notes and handouts.

Issues of Academic Integrity : Your exams and quizzes will be open books and notes. I want you to have access to reference material when you are working. I expect you however to keep your eyes on your own paper. Students are expected to be familar with the Senate Policy on Academic Honesty and to follow it.

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