Year 9 Cryptography – Dan Brown 1

CYPHERS IN THE WORKOF DAN BROWN

How the author Dan Brown uses cyphers in his books

Year 9 Cryptography – Dan Brown 2

The Da Vinci Code

• While in Paris on business, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon receives an urgent late-night phone call: the elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum. Near the body, police have found a baffling cipher.

• Langdon joins forces with a gifted French cryptologist, Sophie Neveu.

Source: http://www.danbrown.com/

Year 9 Cryptography – Dan Brown 3

• Together Robert and Sophie have to solve various coded clues in order to open the Codex and find out the secret of the Holy Grail.

An adventure that takes them around Paris, London and eventually to Scotland.

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Angels and Demons

• When world-renowned Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned to a Swiss research facility to analyze a mysterious symbol -- seared into the chest of a murdered physicist -- he discovers evidence of the unimaginable: the resurgence of an ancient secret brotherhood known as the Illuminati...

Source: http://www.danbrown.com/

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• Robert and scientist Vittoria Vetra join forces to decode the clues that lead to the Path of Illumination and find the baddie.

• The chase takes them all over Rome and finally ends with a dramatic scene at The Vatican.

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The Lost Symbol

• Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned unexpectedly to deliver an evening lecture in the U.S. Capitol Building. Within minutes of his arrival, however, the night takes a bizarre turn. A disturbing object--artfully encoded with five symbols--is discovered in the Capitol Building. Langdon recognizes the object as an ancient invitation... one meant to usher its recipient into a long-lost world of mysterious, ancient wisdom.

Source: http://www.danbrown.com/

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• Robert, and Katherine Solomon, have to solve coded clues in order to find and save her brother from a hideous death at the hands of a madman.

• The chase takes them all over the centre of Washington D.C.

• Along the way they find hidden clues and messages left by the builders of the American capital city.

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The Masonic Cypher

• The Masonic cypher is the main clue in the story that sets Robert Langdon off on his hunt to save his friend Peter Solomon.

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You’ll need some

paper and a pencil for the next bit

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How to crack the cypher – Step 1

First, draw a grid – like a tic-tac-toe grid.

Then add the letters A - I

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How to crack the cypher – Step 2

Then draw another tic-tac-toe grid and add the letters J – R, adding a to each cell in the grid.

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How to crack the cypher – Step 3

Now draw a large X and add the letters S - V

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How to crack the cypher – Step 4

Finally, draw another X and add the letters W – Z and add a to each letter.

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Reading the code…

We can now see that the code symbol

Represents the letter

The symbol Represents the letter

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Reading the code…

The symbol Represents the letter

The symbol Represents the letter

…and so on…

Until you end up with this…

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The code cracked!

Of course, in typical Dan Brown fashion there is more code breaking to be done to unravel the meaning of this grid!

You’ll have to read the book!!

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The next few slides show the full code

de-crypted.Row 2 coming up!

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The symbol Represents the letter

The symbol Represents the letter

The symbolRepresents the letter

The symbol Represents the letter

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Row 3 coming up!

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The symbol Represents the letter

The symbol Represents the letter

The symbolRepresents the letter

The symbolRepresents the letter

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Row 4 coming up!

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The symbol Represents the letter

The symbol Represents the letter

The symbol Represents the letter

The symbol Represents the letter