MTH 2250

INTRODUCTION TO CRYPTOLOGY

This course will look at both the historical and mathematical aspects of making and breaking secret codes. The course will begin with classical ciphers such as the Caesar and Vigenere ciphers, affine and block ciphers, cipher machines such as the Enigma, and continue throughout history leading up to public-key cryptography. Mathematical topics will include concepts from number theory such as prime numbers and modular arithmetic, matrices, probability, and statistics. Students will be expected to both encrypt ciphers and learn methods to attack them.

Units: 3.0