CRYPTOGRAM: The meaning of it all

• Mar 17, 2002

Ever step back from the bits and bytes of the daily routine to take a look at the big picture? The following quotation might provide inspiration.

The author, a mathematician, worked on the Manhattan Project during World War II and is best known for his error-detecting and error-correcting codes. Anyone familiar with Fourier analysis will recognize his name from a common data-smoothing technique.

Decode this quote by substituting one letter for another. You have to figure out the code yourself, but here's a hint:

C = M

'L X G'''' I H N I W M G'''' W S'''' U W C I H L P B A'''' P M''''
P B M P A X L,
B W L'''' B H C D G N M.'

'_ _ _ '''' _ _ _ _ _ _ _ '''' _ _ '''' _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ '''' _ _ '''' _ _ _ _ _ _ _,
_ _ _ '''' _ _ _ _ _ _ .'

'N P U X F N Y'''' Q.'''' X F C C P B A

'_ _ _ _ _ _ _ '''' _.'''' _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ''''(1915-1998)


Scroll down approximately four inches for answers:


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"The purpose of computing is insight, not numbers."

and

Richard W. Hamming (1915-1998)