SECRET CODES

 Hi! I'm very fond of adventure stories, especially those of spies and mysteries. I want to talk about cryptology and decoding secret ciphers. I challenge you to solve my secret messages hidden here.

There are different ways to do it. I'll show you some.

One of them is just placing the code letters in a special order (a wave) and then writing the message on a line (one row after the other).

This is my first:

H L O M L Y     E L I' E O

Egyptians used hieroglyphics in their writings. This isn't a code, but a language. It's funny to decode hieroglyphics. I propose you a simple one:

The first to use codes were the Spartans. They use a cylinder (scytale) with a ribbon wrapped around. The message was writing across the ribbons, and then unwrapped for decoding. 

In Rome, Julius Caesar invented a wheel to code messages. It consisted on two wheels with the alphabet all around, placed one inside the other. So, the inner wheel showed the alphabet with the letters being moved seven positions further along. For example, A really represents G; B is for H, and so on. 

Third challenge with the Caesar's cipher: 

  QY     FIPY     YHAFCMB

In the 18th century, masonics (a secret society) used an original way of codification called the Pigpen Cipher. It's a substitution cipher which exchanges letters for symbols which are fragments of a grid. It's a bit hard at first but then, it's quite funny. Would you try with this one? 

Going on with grids, I show you another one based on a number grid. The decoding method is using the numbers as in a "battleship game". For example, A is number 11 (1 across, 1 down). 

Let's try to solve this code:

	1	2	3	4	5
1	A	B	C	D	E
2	F	G	H	I	J
3	K	L	M	N	O
4	P	Q	R	S	T
5	U	V	W	X	YZ

53   15   '   43   15               45   23   15          12   15   44   45                   13   32   11   44   44

And finally... Have you ever seen a word and read the same word upside down? They are called ambigrams and there are lots of them, which create great optical illusions. 

Here you are an example, and a website where you can ask for your name drawn by ambigrams. 

www.flipscript.com

Hope you've enjoyed decoding my little notes. 

Eloy Villalón Flores 3rd B