GRANVILLE, Ohio — A Denison University professor has updated a 40-year-old book that has been called “the art and science of reading secret messages.” The book, “The Elementary Cryptanalysis, 2nd Edition,” is Todd Feil’s updated and revised version of Abraham Sinkov’s original 1966 work. Sinkov was one of the first three hires (in 1930) for what eventually was to be the National Security Agency.

People are most familiar with elementary cryptology through solving the familiar “cryptogram” puzzles in the newspaper. But many don’t realize that cryptology can be viewed systematically. Published by the Mathematical Association of America, this charming book explains how to solve cryptograms based on elementary mathematical principles. Feil, a professor of mathematics and computer science at the college, has updated the book for the technological age by updating the language and adding two new chapters on modern methods.

Exercises are given throughout the text that help the reader understand the concepts. The book assumes minimal mathematical prerequisites and therefore explains from scratch such concepts as summation notation, matrix multiplication, and modular arithmetic. Even the mathematically sophisticated reader, however, will find some of the exercises challenging.

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