Study Questions, due on October 1

• Its hard to say which topics are most important. There are definitely things that I understand above other things. I guess, for the purposes of this class, that the modes of attack would be the most important things to study. Knowing these helps us to foresee how someone might break our code and see our classified information that we're trying to communicate.
• Before the study guide came out I had no idea what to expect on the exam. To be honest, I still don't know what to expect. Once I get this first exam under my belt I think I'll have a better idea of how the exams will be formatted. But I think there will be a lot of theory on the exam, as far as encryption and decryption. It helps to have a study guide with most of the topics all in one place. With the guide and discussing it briefly in class, I have a better idea of what to study and go over.
• Before the exam I'm going to need to really study each method of encryption and its method of decryption. Those are the things that I haven't really practiced and I need to.
  

5.1-5.1, due on September 30

• There were a couple of things that were hard for me to process in this reading. The first was that I had a hard time following the construction of the S-boxes as well as the subsequent keys. The algorithms presented in the book were confusing to me. The other thing was going about decryption. I understand that we take the inverse action of all the original actions, in reverse order, but I'm not quite clear on how to perform all of the inverse actions.
• I really enjoyed the reading because we had been introduced to this topic, briefly, in class already. It helped me to follow the author through the thought process. Even though its still a little foggy, I was able to follow the reading okay. I am really understanding the arithmetic with bits and am enjoying this process.
  

Questions, due on September 28

• If I'm going to be totally honest, I haven't turned in the last two assignments. I contributed to the group Jer3miah project, but other than that the only homework assignment I've turned in was the very first one. And, that didn't take me very long. It maybe took me about 30 minutes to figure everything out on Maple. I'm pregnant and don't feel well most of the time. But I just need to manage my time better in order to produce more homework assignments.
• I absolutely love reading out of the textbook and sitting through lectures. That's my favorite part. I read, then come to class and everything is put into perspective and makes more sense after someone who knows teaches it. I think that the lectures contribute most to my learning. I could read all I want, but I won't fully understand until someone explains it to me.
• I think the thing that would help me learn better is sitting on the other side of the room. That's it. I really enjoy the lectures (especially when the guest lecturer came) and I enjoy learning all about ciphers and encryption and decryption.

3.11, due on September 25

• The most difficult part of this reading assignment for me was adding polynomials (mod some polynomial). I think I've almost got it now, but I look forward to hearing about it in lecture. Its a different concept for me. I've never done congruences with polynomials before.
• I was excited to get a refresher on fields. I haven't heard about fields for a couple of semesters, so it was nice to relearn some things. Its also nice to know we'll be dealing with fields a little bit in this class. Its always good to have a heads up. Fields were hard for me the first time around, so it will be nice to go over them again.

4.5-4.8, due on September 23

• Since having DES explained in class, I understand a little bit better the XOR thing as well as the method of reading the diagrams in the book. One thing I'm still a little shady on is all the different "modes" that were discussed in this section of the reading. I'm understanding how to follow the algorithms in the book, but I'm still on clear on what each "mode" does. They are obviously for multiple cases and instances, but I'm not seeing what each is used for.
• When we talk about attacks in plain english, it helps. :) Talking about ciphers in code is a little foreign to me until its explained, but talking about it in sentences helps me to understand it. I remember talking about the breaking of the DES code, but it was cool to actually read the history and what exactly happened in exactly how much time.

4.1, 4.2 and 4.4, due on September 21

• I'm really looking forward to going over the DES cipher in class tomorrow. I'm having a really hard time understanding it by just reading it out of the book. I understand that it uses bits (0's and 1's), but beyond that, its a little difficult for me to process.
• At the same time I'm excited to go over DES in class. I feel like its just about there, but maybe an explanation in class can help me to clear it all up. I really enjoy mathematics in bits. It reminds me of the Computer Science I took. It was confusing, but I'm grateful to have learned about bits in that class.

2.5-2.8 and 3.8, due on September 16

• The most difficult part of this text was to understand how all the ciphers worked. It took reading through and through again and again to understand, even a little bit, how they fit together. I tried on my own before they solved it for me, and it was definitely difficult.
• The coolest part of the text was when we started using matrices and mathematics to create and solve ciphers. I took linear algebra and LOVED it, so using matrices to solve ciphers kind of came naturally to me. I really enjoyed the parts of the text about mathematics.
  

2.1-2.2 and 2.4, due September 11

• The hardest part about this section of the reading was to understand the attacks on the different cryptosystems. I had to read through each a couple of times before I began to understand. I also had to go back to Chapter 1 to re-read the descriptions of the different attacks.
• The best part of this reading for me was to actually follow through the decryption of the section of the Declaration of Independence. At first I looked at the ciphertext and had no idea what to make of it. When the textbook began to walk me through it, the real message started to come out. It was really cool to begin to see the process.

Guest Lecture, due on September 11

• The most difficult part of this lecture for me was that the crazy names in the Doctrine and Covenants weren't actually ancient people. I always assumed that they were, because of the incredible names they had. Another difficult thing for me to was to picture the Saints going through what they went through. It must've been 10 times as bad as I thought it was. I never knew they had to use cryptography and ciphers.
• The most interesting part of this lecture was the connection between members of the church. It was fascinating to see which members connected with other members for the basis of communication. It was like a big web. I enjoyed this lecture immensely.

3.2-3.3, due on September 4

• The most difficult thing from this section of reading for me was figuring out congruences. I was never very good with congruences in 190 and we didn't have much practice with them. With more practice and study I think I'll be able to understand congruences more, but they're a little tough to get a handle on.
• The most interesting part of this material for me was the Extended Euclidean Algorithm. I don't remember ever seeing this before, but maybe I've just forgotten about it. It was fascinating for me to see how the algorithm works backwards.

1.1-1.2 and 3.1, due on September 2

• The part of the material that was most difficult for me was understanding all of the language in section 1.2 about Cryptographic Applications. It was hard for me to keep everything straight. There were a few of the applications that were similar to each other. Namely: authentication and non-repudiation were extremely similar. I guess beside those two, the hard part is going to be remembering all of the different applications.
• I was very impressed when I read through section 3.1. I actually remembered learning this material in an early math theory class. I had Stephen Humphries for a professor and learned all about the Euclidean Algorithm and the Prime Number Theorem as well as aspects and properties of divisibility. That was one of my favorite classes. So, this material actually directly connects to material I've learned before, and it was a great refresher.

Introduction, due on September 2

I am a second-year senior and a Mathematics major.

I'm not sure what is meant by "post-Calculus courses", but here are all of the math courses I've taken at BYU after 112 and 113 (listed by NEW course numbers):
Math 290
Math 313
Math 314
Math 334
Math 341
Math 352
Math 371

I'm currently enrolled in:
Math 342
Math 410
Math 485

I'm taking this class for an elective credit. I really think I'll enjoy encryption and decryption. It sparked my interest, so that's why I chose this course for my elective credit.

I have some experience with Maple, but not much.

It will take some practice, but I think I could use Maple to complete some homework assignments. I've also taken a class in Java programming.

The math professor I've had that has been the most effective was Dr. Jeff Humpherys. I'm not sure why he was so effective, other than the fact that he was so interested in helping us learn. He was so concerned that we were learning. He even stopped by the math lab a couple of times, just to see how his students were doing. He cared.

The math professor that I've had that was the least effective was Dr. Fearnley. The method he teaches with was very foreign to me. He teaches using the Moore method. That method was particularly difficult for me when learning about complex analysis.

Something unique about me: I've been married for 2 1/2 years and we're expecting our first baby in March.

I'm unable to come to your scheduled office hours due to another math class I'm enrolled in. Some hours that may work for me are T/TH after 3:30pm or M/W/F after 4pm.