Question

The caesar cipher is an old method of encryption involving a substitution cipher. practicing this method, you want to perform -4. what is this?

a) shifting 4 letters to the left
b) shifting 4 letters to the right
c) shifting the text 4 lines up
d) shifting the text 4 lines down

Answer 1

Performing a -4 in the Caesar cipher means shifting each letter in the plaintext 4 positions to the left in the alphabet. The Caesar cipher is a substitution cipher; this differs from the transposition cipher used in the Zimmerman Telegram, which rearranges letters in blocks. option a is the correct answer.

Step-by-step explanation:

Practicing the Caesar cipher and performing a -4 means you are shifting 4 letters to the left in the alphabet. This type of cipher is a substitution cipher where each letter in the plaintext is replaced by a letter some fixed number of positions down the alphabet. For example, with a left shift of 4, 'E' would be transformed into 'A'.

In the case of the Zimmerman Telegram, a transposition cipher was used, which rearranges the letters rather than substituting them. The plaintext is divided into blocks, and the order of letters within each block is changed according to a rule, often determined by a keyword. This differs from the Caesar cipher's method of substitution.

The Caesar cipher involves shifting letters in the plaintext a certain number of positions in the alphabet. For a shift of -4, the letters are shifted 4 positions to the left.

The Caesar cipher is a substitution cipher where each letter in the plaintext is shifted a certain number of positions in the alphabet. For a shift of -4, it means shifting 4 letters to the left. So, the correct answer is option a) shifting 4 letters to the left.