I need to decode this cryptogram

[fd9]

If anyone could help me decode the following cryptogram, I would be very thankful.

 

abcdefeghijghkcmncopkqarsedieghkhtfjohfhrdircoathsfeghieifhhtkcmncopkqarshkankfnafhfqhicrkhciaffrfkfectphfuhhtfqho

 

By the way, there's no spaces (I don't know why it put one in there).

[calbiterol]

Is it encoded English? And does it have a context?

[fd9]

yes it's in english, supposed to be a physics question.

[calbiterol]

say what? what's the question, like the entire thing?

[Phi for All]

If it's a substitution cipher, h is a good candidate for the letter e. 18 instances and two parings. Tough with no word spaces.

 

There are actually 2 spaces in the text. You said you don't know why "it" put them there?

[calbiterol]

I'm assuming he means the thread starter. If you look at the beginning part, it goes like this:

 

abcdefeghijghkcmncopkqars

 

This immediately caught my eye. The underlined part is the english alphabet, in the correct order, with the exception of the letter L. How much of a coincidence could it be that it starts with a,b,c,d,e,f,...,g,h,i,j,...,k,C,m,n,...,o,p,...,q,...,r,s... That's about where it stops, but just the progression of letters caught my eye. That would make me think C is L.

[calbiterol]

Note also that there are no L's in the entire thing.

[Phi for All]

Every g is immediately followed by an h.

[Phi for All]

How much of a coincidence could it be that it starts with a,b,c,d,e,f,...,g,h,i,j,...,k,C[/b'],m,n,...,o,p,...,q,...,r,s....

In a substitution, he could have written out his question, then started assigning letters beginning with a, b, c, and so forth.

Note also that there are no L's in the entire thing.

Simply a low-instance letter like x or z.

[calbiterol]

I'm not sure I quite know what you mean...

[Phi for All]

I'm not sure I quite[/b'] know what you mean...

a'b cde fghi a jgaei... = I'm not sure I quite...

 

See the same pattern? You start the substitution at the beginning of the alphabet and apply it to the first words in the sentence.

 

I think I have the last two words, which will help me get the rest.

[calbiterol]

so as soon as you get to a repeat letter, it screws up the progression, right? I think i know what you mean now, I know what substitution is, but I'm a bit of a visual learner, or a do-it-myself-but-can't-explain-to-others kinda person, so I just didn't... see.

[calbiterol]

Maybe one of the characters is a space.

[Phi for All]

No, they're all jammed together. If they used a letter as a space, you'd be missing a letter of the alphabet

[calbiterol]

No, I mean perhaps one of the letters they used stands for a space. As in, every Z means a space, just like every A could be a Z.

 

Every g is immediately followed by an h.

 

q and u, perhaps?

[Phi for All]

No, I mean perhaps one of the letters they used stands for a space. As in, every Z means a space, just like every A could be a Z.

No, then they couldn't have any z's.

q and u, perhaps?

No, h = e, I haven't figured out g yet. The last two words are "BETWEENTHEM".

[calbiterol]

Nevermind, I think we're both misunderstanding each other, and it's a moot point, because it works without that entire idea.

[calbiterol]

Wouldn't happen to have any other letters?

 

I think "fifteen" is in there. If you replace letters so that you get between them at the end, then you are left with a spot with "teen" (translated/transposed) and "iei" unchanged. That would mean i=f and e=i, but that seems to screw up other things. Also, it might be inbetween them.

[Phi for All]

A POSITIVE FIVE COULOMB CHARGE IS FIVE CENTIMETERS FROM A NEGATIVE FIFTEEN COULOMB CHARGE. CALCULATE THE FORCE OF ATTRACTION BETWEEN THEM.

 

Negative, attraction, charge were all mispelled. Twenty lashes for the teacher.

 

Or whoever copied it down wrong.

[calbiterol]

I noticed that too, and calculate was misspelled as well. It was driving me nuts. I got it to "A b o s i t i g e f i g e c o m n o m b c h a r s i s f i g e centimeters from a n e s t i g e fifteen c o m n o m b c h a r s e c a n c t n a t e t h e force of a t t r t ction between them" and was starting to go nuts with the "a t t r t ction " thing. Perhaps those spaces really were supposed to be there? There were at least 2, and I thought I might have counted 3. Just a thought.

 

Good job, Phi!

[fd9]

Wow. Just, wow. That was amazing, how did you guys do that?

 

I think I might have to do one more so can someone explain how you came up with that? What decoder did you use?

 

By the way, thanks alot.

[calbiterol]

Minds work pretty well . If you have flash and want to try some true cryptograms (I spose it helps to know the definition of one, you should figure it out quick just looking at the puzzles) go to http://teppo.tv/cryptogram/ . The only difference is they use numbers instead of letters.

[Phi for All]

I think I might have to do one more so can someone explain how you came up with that? What decoder did you use?

Decoder? How would a decoder work when there are no spaces to delimit words? I counted the letter instances and determined that h was a good possibility for the letter e. From there I just substituted randomly until the word "between" suggested itself. That gave me t and n, which both had high occurences and led me to the rest. It helped that I got "teen" and you told us it was a physics question, so I guessed it was probably a number in the teens. "Fifteen" worked and gave me another vowel.

 

I want to know why there were so many misspellings. Did a physics teacher give you this puzzle? Was it not hard enough without them? Does he want students to turn his car over in the parking lot? Is he bigger than me?

By the way, thanks alot.

You are welcome alot. Your gratitude makes it worth staying up so late.

[fd9]

Decoder? How would a decoder work when there are no spaces to delimit words? I counted the letter instances and determined that h was a good possibility for the letter e. From there I just substituted randomly until the word "between" suggested itself. That gave me t and n' date=' which both had high occurences and led me to the rest. It helped that I got "teen" and you told us it was a physics question, so I guessed it was probably a number in the teens. "Fifteen" worked and gave me another vowel.

 

I want to know why there were so many misspellings. Did a physics teacher give you this puzzle? Was it not hard enough without them? Does he want students to turn his car over in the parking lot? Is he bigger than me?

You are welcome alot. Your gratitude makes it worth staying up so late. [/quote']

 

Actually he told us there were misspellings, plus the enocded message were all random symbols before, so I had to transfer them to letters so I could easily use it on the computer. I might of screwed up somewhere.

 

From the sound of it, it just seems to me like you guesstimated the whole thing. I still don't understand how you did it though. How do you "substitute randomly"? How did the word between suddenly "suggest itself" like magic? How long did it take you?

 

Either you're an abnormally good guesser, or there's something I'm completly missing. Did you use a decoder at all?

[calbiterol]

FD9, check out the link I gave you. Try a few. It gives you word spaces, but the basic concept is the same - if you have no idea whatsoever, look at how often words come up and try letters.