1. The interesting part of this was the relation to Signatures (El Gamal) but more especially, how easy and convenient the diffie hellman key exchange becomes.
2. The hard part was understanding El Gamal Digital Signatures for elliptic curves.
Saturday, December 1, 2012
16.4, due Monday Dec 3rd
1. The hard part about this was following the example all the way through. It just took a little extra time to figure out what was going on.
2. The interesting part was how secure systems can be mod 2 or mod 2^n. I thought this would either decrease the security of the system, or make it difficult to represent points, but both challenges are overcome.
2. The interesting part was how secure systems can be mod 2 or mod 2^n. I thought this would either decrease the security of the system, or make it difficult to represent points, but both challenges are overcome.
Friday, November 30, 2012
16.3, due Fri Nov 30
1. I thought the difficult part of this reading was understanding "smoothness." I didn't understand why it is best suited for medium numbers either.
2. I really liked the analogy of the p-1 method to factoring elliptic curves. Although does that make elliptic curve cryptography weaker because all a hacker has to do is try several curves to factor n? I thought singular curves were interesting.
2. I really liked the analogy of the p-1 method to factoring elliptic curves. Although does that make elliptic curve cryptography weaker because all a hacker has to do is try several curves to factor n? I thought singular curves were interesting.
Monday, November 26, 2012
16.2, due Wednesday November 28th
1. It wasn't really difficult this time but I do have one question: Why would it be useful to approximate (or know) how many points are on an elliptic curve? I assume these methods are only valuable for finite fields...not for the reals or complex numbers etc.
2. I liked how previous methods apply to elliptic curves for trying to crack them. I thought it was interesting the index calculus approach doesn't work though.
2. I liked how previous methods apply to elliptic curves for trying to crack them. I thought it was interesting the index calculus approach doesn't work though.
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
16.1, due Monday Nov 26
1. I didn't understand the addition of points. It seems to me to be the addition or product of 'lines' more than points.
2. I thought it was amazing that you can find a third point given two (or even one!) points by using the formula they give.
2. I thought it was amazing that you can find a third point given two (or even one!) points by using the formula they give.
Monday, November 19, 2012
Online reading and 19.3, due Monday Nov 19
1. I didn't understand the "linear combination of states" part. The Discrete Fourier Transform was tricky to understand, both the process and the reason.
2. I liked the online reading a lot. The example of a tackboard showing what period he was on was awesome! I also thought it was interesting how quantum computers could factor large numbers.
2. I liked the online reading a lot. The example of a tackboard showing what period he was on was awesome! I also thought it was interesting how quantum computers could factor large numbers.
Friday, November 16, 2012
19.1 and 19.2, due Friday Nov 16th
1. I didn't understand any of this reading. I think I could understand it better if I knew how light worked.
2. The idea of sending photons and having such a thing as quantum computers was interesting. I liked how it again, similar to chapter 14, covered probabilities. The additional reading was very insightful.
2. The idea of sending photons and having such a thing as quantum computers was interesting. I liked how it again, similar to chapter 14, covered probabilities. The additional reading was very insightful.
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