Mathematics
Kryptos
Kryptos 2023 is Over for another year!
One hundred and forty-four students formed 70 teams representing Alabama, California, Idaho, Maryland, Massachussets, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, the United Kingdom, Utah, Virginia, and Washington.
Congratulations to all!
A preliminary list of results appear below (subject to finalization). If you notice any errors, or if we have mispelled your name or school, please send an email to Stuart.Boersma@cwu.edu and we will correct it.
Those teams which submitted at least one correct solution are recognized below. The order of the listings indicates the chronological order of when the solutions were submitted.
Master Codebreakers are those who solved all three challenges and are recognized as achieving theTURING level of achievement:
From Eastern Mennonite University (First Place Team!):
- Caleb Hostetler
- Mana Acosta
- Laura Benner
From University of Dayton (Second Place Team!):
- Aaron Boulanger
- Aidan Hackett
From Furman University (First Place Individual!):
-
Emmanuel Skora
From Worcester Polytechnic Institute:
- John Muirhead
- Brandon Voci
- Andrew Adiletta
From Hofstra University:
- Evan Lopes
- Emilio Cruz
From Linfield University:
- Brendan Perez
- Gabrielle Stephens
From Worcester Polytechnic Institute:
- Ben Gobler
- Jessica Wang
From California State University Channel Islands:
- Carmen Day
- Jasmine Torres
- Eric Strauss
From Willamette University:
- Asher Kiel
- Colin M Davis
From Pacific University:
- Michael Sentman
- Nathan Jett
From Furman University:
- Jordan Hembree
-
Hunter Mitten
From Gannon University:
- Kaisamusa M. Kamara
- Julia Takagi
Proficient Codebreakers are those who solved two challenges and are recognized as achieving the BABBAGE level of achievement:
From Central Washington University:
- Ethan Davis
- James Mathis
- Alice Williams
From University of Alabama:
- Quade Mainzer
- Cara Cannarozzi
- Aaron Silvis
From Pacific University:
- Sophia Otsuka
- Molly Brocious
From Western Oregon University:
- Rayme McCallan
- Hunter Hall
- Avery Hiebert
From Wheaton College:
- Jeffrey Stewart
- Anthony Gatti
Amateur Codebreakers are those who solved one of the challenges and are recognized as achieving a PRETTY GOOD level of achievement:
From Eastern Oregon University:
- Robert Graham Preston
- Hailey Hochhalter
- Alan Humphrey
From Weber State University:
- Joseph Markin
- Henry Hall
From Southern Nazarene University:
- Jaime Acre
- Keaton Crooks
- David Morales
From Torrance High School (2nd Place Individual!):
- Molly Chen
From Furman University:
- Morgan Carns
- Alyssa Pate
From Central Washington University:
- Ashlyn Huber
From Wheaton College:
- Nikola Szymanska
- Megan Simeone
From Western Oregon University:
- Samuel Herford
- Megan Philip
From Southern Nazarene University:
- Andrew Kinnamon
- Glen Schouweiler
From University of Washington Bothell:
- Steven Suarez
- Han Pham
- David Woo
κρυπτοσ or kryptos, is a contest open to any and all undergraduate students. The theme of the contest is centered around the breaking, or cryptanalysis, of ciphers (secret writing). Each challenge presents contestants with a brief scenario together with some ciphertext (encoded message). The goal is to discover the original English plaintext message!
Clues to help break the cipher may be contained in the actual ciphertext or in the details of the accompanying scenario.
While it is not the intent of this contest to test overly technical aspects of crypanalysis or advanced mathematical algorithms, some familiarity with basic codemaking and codebreaking is certainly helpful. Some useful sources include:
- Challenges from previous competitions.
- The American Cryptogram Association.
- Wikipedia entries for Cryptography and Cryptanalysis.
- The Code Book by Simon Singh.
- Codes and Ciphers by R.F. Churchhouse.
- Codes, Ciphers and Secret Writing by Martin Gardner.
- Secret History: The Story of Cryptology by Craig Bauer
- Slides from a recent PNW-MAA minicourse.
Contestants should also be aware that there are quite a few freely available programs and applets that may aid in some of the more tedious aspects of code breaking (e.g. frequency analysis). However, keep in mind that there are never any guarantees with such software!
To Participate
Individual undergraduate students, or teams of up to three, are eligible to participate. Each individual or team must have a faculty sponsor in order to register.
Please read the official contest rules and instructions for submitting solutions before the contest begins.
When the contest begins at 4 p.m. PDT on April 20, 2023, the Cipher Challenges will be available at this website. Begin working and have fun! Solutions need to be submitted by 4 p.m. PDT April 24, 2023. All times are Pacific Daylight Time.
Results will be posted here shortly after the end of the contest. As teams finish each challenge, please prepare and submit solutions according to the guidelines.
Please submit your solutions as you solve each challenge as the time taken to solve a challenge will be used to determine final rankings.
Questions or difficulties? Email Stuart Boersma [ Stuart.Boersma@cwu.edu ].
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