My friend wants me to decode a code he made. Anyone know any kinds of codes he might have used. Thanks so much

Question

This code is KILLING me. I have no idea what it means. Anyone have any advice on how I might solve it? Or any types of codes there are that he might have used, and of course, how to decode them. Thanks so much!

Answer 1

You haven't really given enough to go on. Is it a sequence of letters, and do the letters have spaces in? Does your friend have specialist cryptographic knowledge, is he really good at maths etc... Knowing the person can give some clues to what you're dealing with.

I am guessing it will be a simple code.

The most common one is to switch a letter for another letter as part of the code.

e.g.

e = k

h = f

l = c

o = x

So "hello" would become "fkccx".

The best way to solve a code of this type is by knowing the frequency of letters that occur for the target language. So for example in American English 'e' is the most common letter usually, followed by 't' then 'a'. See the bar chart on the link:

http://tinyurl.com/ywozd6

If his phrase is long enough then this frequency analysis may work, but the problem with small amounts of letters is that this method can become unsuitable, but it can still give some clues.

But knowing that each letter might be switched for another, might help. It will take a fair bit of guess work too, cryptography usually does.

Another clue is that if you see two contiguous letters the same, e.g. ww then check for common sequences of two letters, which can be "ee", "oo", "ll", "pp" etc. That is something I usually try.

Good luck, and the more information you give about the code the better, but I understand that you wouldn't want to publish the code itself online. But more general information about the code could help people break it.

Let us know how you get on?

Maybe it says "will you marry me?", lol ;)

Answer 2

no, just do trial and error