CORE 139 Methods and Issues in Cryptology Spring 2004

Frequency Analyzer Tool

Enter the text to be analyzed in the "ciphertext" box, choose the appropriate values for "type of ciphertext" and "characters per symbol", and click on one or more of the "type of analysis" buttons. Each result will appear in a new browser window.

ciphertext:
type of ciphertext:
Choose "letters" if the ciphertext symbols are made up of letters (a-z) or "numbers" if the ciphertext symbols are made up of numbers (0-9). All other symbols (spaces, punctuation, etc.) will be ignored in the analysis.

characters per symbol:
This is the number of characters that make up one ciphertext symbol. For a simple substitution cipher in which individual letters are replaced by individual letters, choose 1. For a cipher in which individual letters are replaced by two-digit numbers, choose 2. This tool does not support variable-length symbols.

type of analysis:
Count the frequency of individual ciphertext symbols.
Count the frequency of pairs of ciphertext symbols.
Count the frequency of triples of ciphertext symbols.
For each ciphertext symbol, determine the number and type of symbols that appear immediately before or after it. Vowels tend to appear near most other letters, while consonants appear near relatively few other letters; there are many other patterns which emerge as well.

sbridgeman@mail.colgate.edu last updated: --Wed Jan 28 19:50:33 Eastern Standard Time 2004--