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Conference thebay::joyoflex

Title:The Joy of Lex
Notice:A Notes File even your grammar could love
Moderator:THEBAY::SYSTEM
Created:Fri Feb 28 1986
Last Modified:Mon Jun 02 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:1192
Total number of notes:42769

59.0. "IBM = HAL + 1" by SPRITE::OSMAN () Fri Mar 08 1985 17:01

Many of us are familiar with the word-shift puzzle associated with the
movie 2001.  Namely, add 1 to each letter of the "HAL", the name of
the computer in the movie, and you get "IBM".

In a mathematical sense, we can represent this fact like this:

	IBM = HAL + 1

I ran a procedure on our computer to search the on-line dictionary for examples
of sets of English words that are related by shifting letters.  The longest
words that work are:

	SULPHUR = PRIMERO + 3

Here are others I liked.

	KNEE = FIZZ + 5

	GNARL = XERIC + 9	(I haven't looked up XERIC, but assuming it's
				 a word, I like this one because it has my name
				 in it.)

	SATIN = MUNCH + 6

	IRON = FOLK + 3

	TEAR = PAWN + 4

	GROG = WHEW + 10

	GROW = DOLT + 3		("All DOLTS ought to GROW up 3 years !")

	SHALE = LATEX + 7

	LAYOUT = FUSION + 6

	APTLY = TIMER + 7

	ARENA = RIVER + 9

	NEST = HYMN + 6

	ASS = WOO + 4		(I better not say anything about this one)

	BUNNY = SLEEP + 9	(Nor this one)

	PIES = HAWK + 8

	BURY = SLIP + 9

	HAZER = BUTYL + 6

	KEG = ICE + 1		(nice association: icy cold keg of beer)

	FAGOT = TOUCH + 12	(hmmm)

	NOON = DEED + 10

	RUT = ILK + 9 = BED + 16

	LOO = ILL + 3 = BEE + 8 = ADD + 11

	ILLY = BEER + 7

	LOX = FIR + 6

	FIX = BET + 4		(Something about fixing a race ?)

	FROG = COLD + 3

	HUSH = BOMB + 6		(Sort of a gruesome association)

	ONYX = BALK + 13

	SPUR = LINK + 7		(Isn't there some mountain in New England
				 containing two trails with these respective
				 names ?)

	ROUT = LION + 6

	HERO = DANK + 4

	OWL = GOD + 8		(Hey Topher, Toby, you read me ?)

	STOP = HIDE + 11

	JERK = FANG + 4

	LOOP = BEEF + 10

	INGOT = CHAIN + 6

	PEPPER = LALLAN + 4	(I hope LALLAN is a word.  I don't know what
				 it means)

	SEX = OAT + 4		(I liked this because of the "sow your
				 wild oats" loose connection between the words)

	TIGER = PECAN + 4

	JOLLY = CHEER + 7	(My favorite)

	VEX = RAT + 4

	WET = SAP + 4

	SURE = PROB + 3		(Kind of cute, given the meaning of
				 "probably" vs "definitely")

	SUING = MOCHA + 6

	TIE = PEA + 4

	PET = LAP + 4		(Something about a lap dog ?)

	TWIN = LOAF + 8

	STIR = OPEN + 4		(two words from a recipe ?)

	ZOO = PEE + 10 = ADD + 25	(wrap around from Z to A again)

	SHOW = PELT + 3

	TWO = RUM + 2 = LOG + 8

p.s.

	Col. G.L. Sicherman motivated me to make the study.  He pointed
	out the SULPHUR/PRIMERO "rot3" relationship.

p.p.s.

   In case you're wondering how my computer procedure worked, the
   main steps were:

   1) Run a program that takes every word in the dictionary, subtracts
      whatever it needs from every letter such that the first letter
      becomes "A", then outputs both versions as a record.  So JOLLY
      and CHEER will appear in the list as

	AFCCP                                  CHEER
	. . .
	AFCCP                                  JOLLY

   2) Use the dcl SORT command to sort the records.  This causes all the
      ". . ." lines to move elsewhere, bringing the "CHEER" and "JOLLY" records
      together in the file.

   3) Run a program that scans the sorted file and prints out all sets
      of consecutive records that have the same left-hand column.  Hence
      since "CHEER" and "JOLLY" both have "AFCCP" in their left-hand
      column, they get printed out.
T.RTitleUserPersonal
Name
DateLines
59.1SUMMIT::NOBLEMon Mar 11 1985 12:593
re:  ZOO=PEE + 10=ADD + 25

    ADD + 25=ZCC ;  please identify what a zcc is
59.2SPRITE::OSMANTue Mar 12 1985 10:0226




				Uh . . .





			. . . er . . .





			. . . Oh !



		It should be "ODD" instead of "ADD".  My mistake.



sorry :(
59.3SUMMIT::NOBLETue Mar 12 1985 12:533
Then again, if I had subtracted back the other way, I would have
been able to figure it out.   Thank you.

59.4Meaning of LALLANGENRAL::JHUGHESNOTE, learn, and inwardly digestThu Oct 09 1986 20:389
    Re .0:
    
>    	PEPPER = LALLAN + 4	(I hope LALLAN is a word.  I don't know what
				 it means)

    Well, I recognized LALLANS as defining the variety of English spoken
    in the southeast of Scotland, checked with Webster's and found:
    
    "Lallan (or lalland) - Scot var of Lowland"
59.5What's it called?IPG::REEVETim Reeve, REO-D/4-2, DTN: 830-6061Tue Apr 05 1988 19:513
    Could someone do me a favour? For the last few months, I've been
    trying to remember the name of this procedure, i.e. IBM - 1 = HAL.
    Please? Thanks. Maybe I'll get a good night's sleep now.
59.6Is this what you wanted?ZFC::DERAMOTrust me. I know what I'm doing.Wed Apr 06 1988 00:4316
    In the study of cryptography, I think the term "Caesar shift" is
    applied to the method of "rotating" letters of the alphabet by the
    same amount.  It may mean more specifically the rotation A -> D,
    B -> E, etc., that Julius Caesar was supposed to have used.
    
    In at least one electronic mail network, certain messages like
    potentially offensive jokes, movie reviews that gave away the
    ending, and answers to challenge questions, were subjected to
    "rot13" -- where each letter is rotated halfway around the alphabet.
    The mail routines had this built in to it.  Eric mentioned "rot3"
    in .0.
    
    I don't know if this is what you were asking, or if there are
    more widely known "name of this procedure"'s.
    
    Dan
59.7that's what it is ...MARKER::KALLISWhy is everyone getting uptight?Wed Apr 06 1988 16:2212
    Re .6 (Dan):
    
    >In the study of cryptography, I think the term "Caesar shift" is
    >applied to the method of "rotating" letters of the alphabet by the
    >same amount.
     
    The correct term, FWIW, is "Caesar substitution."  Technically,
    it started out as a three-character shift, but is generally used
    by cryptologists to mean  and shift of a nonscrambled alphabet.
    And Julius Caesar did indeed use it.
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.
59.8in numbers...GNUVAX::BOBBITTmodem butterflyWed Apr 06 1988 18:1910
    in math, when you base a counting system on something other than
    10, it is called "modulo X" (where X is the radix or basis for the
    system).
    
    Perhaps if you base an alphabet one letter later, it would be "Modulo
    B", or one letter earlier, it would be "Modulo Z"
    (assuming the standard is "modulo A")
    
    -Jody
    
59.9Mod, you knowSSDEVO::GOLDSTEINThu Apr 07 1988 02:1219
    Re: .8
    
    > in math, when you base a counting system on something other than
    > 10, it is called "modulo X" (where X is the radix or basis for
    > the system).
    
    You are confusing two different mathematical concepts.  The radix
    or base of the decimal system is indeed 10, just as 2 is radix of
    the binary system.  This, however, is independent of the concept
    of 'modulo 10' or 'modulo 2'.  Mathematicians refer to "arithmatic
    modulo n," (sometimes called "clock arithmatic").  It is the arithmatic
    obtained by using only the integers 0, 1, 2, . . . n-1 and defining
    addition and multiplication by letting the sum a+b and the product
    ab be the remainder after division by n of the ordinary sum and
    product of a and b.   One may have in the decimal system, for instance,
    arithmatic modulo n, where n is _any_ integer in the system.  Modulo
    arithmatic in the decimal system is not limited to modulo 10.
    
    Bernie                                                       
59.10What did Ceasar use it for?HOMSIC::DUDEKIt's a Bowser eat Bowser worldMon Apr 11 1988 19:141
    
59.11MARKER::KALLISWhy is everyone getting uptight?Mon Apr 11 1988 19:5117
    Re .10:
    
    >                  -< What did Ceasar use it for? >-
      
    Military communications.  The Caesar substitution is quite easily
    solved nowadays, but apparently he (hence, the Romans) thought it
    secure enough.
    
    Another cryptological method of the time was the "skytale," on
    which a ribbon was would spirally around a cylinder of a certain
    diameter, then a message was written on the surface; then it was
    unwound and rolled up.  The characters were supposed to be meaningless
    to anyone unless they had a cylinder of the same diameter on which
    the thing could be rewound.  [The characters would naturally fall
    into place, whereupon the message could be reread.]          
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.
59.12 lets bring this up to date... ELIS::SOBOTThu May 04 1995 09:178
    
    	WNT = VMS + 1
    
    I wonder if Mr. Cutler (who created both operating systems, I
    believe) did this deliberately  :-)
    
    
    Cheers,						Steve
59.13NOVA::FISHERnow |a|n|a|l|o|g|Tue May 09 1995 08:534
    it has been reported that Mr. Cutler, when informed of that
    equation, replied "What took you so long?"
    
    ed
59.14JRDV04::DIAMONDsegmentation fault (california dumped)Wed May 10 1995 17:479
    >"What took you so long?"
    
    And the answer is that the person was waiting for the previous
    command to complete, because VMS doesn't have the equivalent of
    BSD's Control-Z and bg command.
    
    (Of course WNT's other predecessor is worse but, as can be
    observed from a glance at the equation, said other predecessor
    doesn't count.)