Derek’s university, ASU, held a campus wide Cryptography contest, where the students competed to solve a series of ciphers, or codes.
40 students entered, and Derek and a partner took First Prize.
You can see a brief note on it here. Look for “Crypto Rally Recap” a couple of items down.
I have fun solving the simple substitution ciphers in the newspaper, but these were significantly more complicated challenges. I’m afraid he’s out of my league now.
We’ve always known Derek was the king of the riddles, so I’m not surprised. Hope he won lots of $$$.
P.S. I though cryptology was the study of handwriting. What’s that called?
Comment by Donna — January 9, 2012 @ 7:44 pm
Cryptology is “the science of secure writing”, pretty much synonymous with Cryptography.
Graphology is the pseudoscientific study and analysis of handwriting.
He won a $150 gift card for the campus bookstore.
Comment by Daryl — January 12, 2012 @ 9:27 am