Author Archives: apgoucher

Emergence

Posted on March 7, 2014 by apgoucher

One of the most miraculous phenomena in the universe is, unarguably, the existence of biological life. Whilst evolution nicely accounts for the gradual progression from the earliest archaeobacteria to the vast array of multicellular creatures capable of astounding feats of … Continue reading →

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Cipher 59: Iterated question-answering

Posted on March 3, 2014 by apgoucher

This is another particularly satisfying one to solve. XGJDGSZUIDSSDDDOURPMHDNOUZJMTBMVNAFQTVBISIBSUIDS HOHNGHOUDHFQTHOUGFOTNAFSEJDMEFFODSZUFCCZHUEPSLBM JOSFHQBKEPLBHOUGBUHTDVDKJEDBMCVSONUONSNDVBMJCFZO Good luck. As usual, the password is in lower-case and contains no punctuation. Also, it is precisely twelve letters in length.

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Gears

Posted on February 28, 2014 by apgoucher

If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants. This memorable quotation from Sir Isaac Newton, it has been speculated, was a subtle derogatory reference to the physical stature of his rival, Robert Hooke. Many derivative … Continue reading →

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Schönhage-Strassen algorithm

Posted on February 25, 2014 by apgoucher

Interestingly, the first article on cp4space was concerned with Fourier series and pathological functions. Assuming you haven’t read it (which is plausible, since it precluded the early-2013 popularity surge), I suppose I should start by re-introducing them. Fourier reasoned that … Continue reading →

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Cipher 58: Regarding knot theory

Posted on February 25, 2014 by apgoucher

Sorry about the slight delay in posting this cipher. There’s plenty of background contextual information, all of which will be revealed once you’ve solved it: TYFXTGXQYGTUYIIUHIFQDIXTDBQVITGEO QVTYRLOEITLYQOINBULWJLYLQOBXQPUIT GDEPDITIEITLYGTBXUVWTVDISUDGVTPUS

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Cipher 57: Inadvertent involution

Posted on February 17, 2014 by apgoucher

This cipher happened to have a nice property, which is a complete coincidence. The original title of the cipher was supposed to be ‘vexed’, hence the filename. Hopefully you’ll have more luck with this one than its immediate predecessor, which remains … Continue reading →

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Soddy’s hexlet

Posted on February 15, 2014 by apgoucher

Suppose we have three semi-transparent light blue spheres, S1, S2 and S3, which are all externally tangent to each other. Then, we have a series of metallic green spheres, Γ0, Γ1, Γ2, Γ3, Γ4, Γ5, such that each one touches the … Continue reading →

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Cipher 56: Myrmecological madness

Posted on February 10, 2014 by apgoucher

This cipher is entirely contained within the following image: The password is eleven letters long, if that helps.

Posted in Ciphers | 8 Comments

Exotic spheres

Posted on February 8, 2014 by apgoucher

The second round of the British Mathematical Olympiad was marked today; results are available from Joseph Myers’ website. Congratulations to everyone who featured on the leaderboard (especially Linden Ralph, who secured first place). Moreover, best of luck to the recently-appointed EGMO team of Olivia … Continue reading →

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Cipher 55: Tantalising

Posted on February 3, 2014 by apgoucher

This time, I have decided to use a more traditional form of encryption. RSCOJDNQHDNLSCKXSQGDUAKQRRAKKTQHHXMAR LBGAJAMDKLIBHAISCSDHBGDEANLRKQEKNLNQN LSCRLBGAJVGLRGLKCSNNGAISKNMLTTLRQHNBQ ZZHALCNGAVSJHMDKKQRGLNVSQHMIDPANGLCOK TDJNSSNJLULDHNSKLIBHXKQBBHXNGABDKKVSJ MKSLCKNADMXSQDJARSIBAHHAMNSVSJPGDJMAJ Enjoy.