MATH 18
Introduction to Cryptography Winter 2023

This is not the current course catalog

Class Details

Throughout history, wars have been won and lost based on a military’s ability to successfully send secret messages and to break the enemy’s secret codes. In fact, until the last half of the last century, most uses for cryptography were related to the military. Since the invention of high-powered computers and the Internet, however, there has been an explosion in the need for and usage of encryption. In the 1970’s, public-key encryption was invented, allowing two parties who want to communicate in a secure way to do so even without already sharing a secret “key”. Today, there are numerous mathematical methods used for encryption. In this course, we will study some historical cryptosystems as well as more modern ones. Possible topics include the Caesar cipher, Enigma, The Hill Cipher, Diffie-Hellman, RSA, AES, and Elliptic Curve Cryptography. The class will meet six hours per week. Evaluation will be based on regular homework assignments, participation in class group activities, and a final project.
The Class: Format: lecture
Limit: 20
Expected: NA
Class#: 1205
Grading: pass/fail only
Requirements/Evaluation: Final project or presentation
Prerequisites: None. Students who have already taken a course in Cryptography should obtain permission of the instructor before enrolling in the course.
Enrollment Preferences: Students will be asked to write a paragraph explaining why they would like to take the course.
Attributes: EXPE Experiential Education Courses
STUX Winter Study Student Exploration

Class Grid

Course Catalog Archive Search

TERM/YEAR
TEACHING MODE
SUBJECT
DIVISION



DISTRIBUTION



ENROLLMENT LIMIT
COURSE TYPE
Start Time
End Time
Day(s)