Forwarded message:

Date: Wed, 13 Nov 1996 08:02:16 -0600 (CST) From: Ron Strasburg <rstrasbu@bronco1.hastings.edu> To: cypherpunks@toad.com Subject: Re: A really short one time pad.

On Tue, 12 Nov 1996, Timothy C. May wrote:

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At 5:39 PM -0800 11/12/96, Sean Roach wrote:

[deletia]

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For that patter the nth root of any prime number. Cheap, I know. Wonder if this type of "one time pad" is as foolproof as truly randomly generated ones.

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You needn't wonder. These are not one time pads. Read any opening chapter of any book on crypto to see why.

this was proposed a couple months ago by a Robert Shueey, he first posted asking if "Irrational=Random". not sure if he got any responses.

"The Broken Dice" by Ivar Ekeland has a chapter that discusses Shannon, Kolmogorov, what is random and what isn't. Interesting, readable, non-technical.