20211124
All of the proverbs for November deal with being thankful.
This week’s cypher is based on a system developed by Polybius, a Greek historian and cryptographer, about 2,000 years ago. Below the word thanks is written in this cipher. Since the Greek alphabet has fewer letters than the English alphabet, J and I are the same number.
44 23 11 33 25 43 = thanks
11 / 22 42 11 44 15 21 45 31 / 23 15 11 42 44 / 24 43 / 11 / 24 34 54 21 45 31 / 23 15 11
42 44.
20211124 — Joyful
The Greek Square Cipher or the Polybius Checkerboard
The key to this code is made by setting up a 6 x 6 square. Leaving the first square blank, number 1 – 5 down and across. Then fill in the remaining squares with the alphabet. Since the English alphabet has 26 letters, it will not fit. I and J occupy the same space, number 24. To encode something, determine first the row then the column for each letter. A = 11, Z = 55, S = 43.
To determine if a Greek Square is being used, notice that all letters have two numbers and no number is higher than 55.
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
1 | A | B | C | D | E |
2 | F | G | H | I J | K |
3 | L | M | N | O | P |
4 | Q | R | S | T | U |
5 | V | W | X | Y | Z |
Answer:
A grateful heart is a joyful heart.