MATH 3410 / LGIC 2200 Spring 2024

Spring 2024

MATH 3410 / LGIC 2200, T Th 10:15 - 11:44 a.m.

Discrete Mathematics II

Professor Andre Scedrov

Professor Scedrov's Office: DRL 4E6.
Professor Scedrov's Office Hours: Online by appointment.

Grader: Mr. Oualid Merzouga
Grader Oualid's Office: DRL 4E14.
Grader Oualid's Office Hours: TBA

Prerequisites

Math 3400 / Lgic 2100 or permission of the instructor.

Textbook

Jeffrey Hoffstein, Jill Pipher, and Joseph H. Silverman: "An Introduction to Mathematical Cryptography", Second edition, Springer, 2014.

Further References

Johannes A. Buchmann: "Introduction to Cryptography". Springer, Second Edition, 2004. Paperback. ISBN 9780387207568.
"Handbook of Applied Cryptography" by Menezes, van Oorschot, and Vanstone. CRC Press, Fifth Printing, 2001. ISBN: 0-8493-8523-7.

Topics Covered

Overview of Probability Theory: Probability Distribution, Random Variable, Conditional Probability, Bayes Theorem, Expected Value.

Basic Concepts of Cryptology: Substitution Ciphers, Permutation Ciphers, Vigenere Cipher, Rotor Machines, Attack Models. Symmetric Ciphers, Block Ciphers, One-Time Pad, Information-Theoretic Properties of One-Time Pad, Perfect Secrecy, Misuses of One-Time Pad, Malleability. Stream Ciphers, Linear Feedback Shift Register, Golomb's Randomness Postulates, Linear Complexity, Non-linear Filters, Knapsack Keystream Generator.

Introduction to Number Theory: Congruences, Chinese Remainder Theorem, Fermat's Little Theorem, Euler's Theorem, Modular Exponentiation by Repeated Squaring. Finite Fields. Splitting Fields. Quadratic Residues. Legendre Symbol. Jacobi Symbol. Law of Quadratic Reciprocity.

Public-Key Cryptosystems: Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange, Person-in-the Middle Attack. Discrete Logarithm. RSA Public-Key Cryptosystem. Attacks on RSA. ElGamal Public-Key Cryptosystem. Digital Signatures, Selective Forgery, Existential Forgery. Signature Schemes Based on RSA. Signature Schemes Based on Discrete Logarithm: ElGamal Signature Scheme, Digital Signature Algorithm (DSA).

Selected topics from modern cryptography and computer network security, including: Probabilistic Primality Testing, Euler Pseudoprimes, Solovay-Strassen Primality Test, Strong Pseudoprimes, Miller-Rabin Primality Test. Hash Functions.

Basic Course Information

There will be two take-home midterms, the first one due in class on Tuesday, February 20, 2024 and the second one due in class on Thursday, April 18, 2024. Each midterm will be worth 25% of the grade and will have at least a two-week lead time, during which there will be no homework.

The take-home final exam will be due Thursday, May 9, 2024 during the final exam period and will be worth 30% of the grade. The take-home final exam will also have at least a two-week lead time, during which there will be no homework. The take-home final exam will also include a 5-page written report on a topic of your choice related to the course and approved in advance by the instructor.

Most other weeks during the semester there will be homework, each time with at least one week lead time. Total homework will be worth 20% of the grade. One lowest score homework can be dropped.

First homework will be assigned on Tuesday, January 30, 2024 and it will be due in class on Tuesday, February 6, 2024.

First midterm will be assigned on Tuesday, February 6, 2024 and it will be due in class on Tuesday, February 20, 2024.

Homework #1 due in pdf in Canvas by 3 pm on Tuesday, February 6, 2024

Please bear in mind that everyone is expected to submit written solutions individually. That is, even if in some cases your work may be a result of group discussions, each person is responsible to write up the solutions in their own words by themselves. Please take the time to show all your work and provide a detailed explanation of your reasoning in your own words.

Exercise 1.1abc on pp. 47-48 of the textbook.
Exercise 1.4a only on p. 48 of the textbook.
Exercise 5.10a only on p. 284 of the textbook.
Exercise 5.11a only on p. 285 of the textbook.
Exercise 5.24ab only on p. 289 of the textbook.

Please put MATH 3410 HW1 and your initials in the name of the pdf file.

This is the complete set of problems for Homework #1 due in pdf in Canvas by 3 pm on Tuesday, February 6, 2024.

Please read sections 1.1, 1.1.1, 1.6, 1.7, 1.7.1, 5.2, 5.2.1, 5.3, 5.3.1, 5.3.2, 5.3.5, 5.6, and 5.6.1 of the textbook.

In addition, in order to give you more time to work on it, we are now also assigning:

Small project due February 20: Exercise 5.17 on p. 286 of the textbook. Please refer to textbook section 5.2.2.

This project is a part of Midterm #1. Other midterm problems will be assigned on February 6.

Midterm #1 due in pdf in Canvas by 3 pm on Tuesday, February 20, 2024

Exercise 1.4c only on p. 49 of the textbook.
Exercise 5.11b only on p. 285 of the textbook.
Small project: Exercise 5.17 on p. 286 of the textbook.
Exercise 5.27ab only on p. 290 of the textbook.
Exercise 5.45abcd on p. 296 of the textbook.

Please put MATH 3410 Midterm1 and your name in the name of the pdf file.

This is the complete set of problems for Midterm #1 due in pdf in Canvas by 3 pm on Tuesday, February 20, 2024.

Please read Handbook Chapter 6 and those parts of Chapter 5, which are referred to in Chapter 6.

Homework #2 due in pdf in Canvas by 3 pm on Thursday, February 29, 2024

Consider the LFSR with m = 3, the connection polynomial 1+x+x³, and initial content 011. Find the maximal output sequence with period 7 and verify that the repeating cycle satisfies the three randomness postulates of Golomb. Please see Handbook 5.4.3 on p. 180 and 6.2.1 on pp. 195-197.
Exercise 1.9a only on p. 50 of the textbook.
Exercise 1.10 on p. 50 of the textbook regarding 1.9a only.
Exercise 1.11a only on p. 50 of the textbook.
Exercise 1.16ab only on pp. 51-52 of the textbook.

Please put MATH 3410 HW2 and your name in the name of the pdf file.

This is the complete set of problems for Homework #2 due in pdf in Canvas by 3 pm on Thursday, February 29, 2024.

Please read textbook sections 1.2, 1.3, 1.3.1, 1.3.2, 1.4, 1.5, 2.8. 2.8.1, 2.10, 2.10.1, 2.10.2, 2.10.3, 2.10.4, and 3.1.

Homework #3 due in pdf in Canvas by 3 pm on Thursday, March 21, 2024

Exercise 1.16b only on pp. 51-52 of the textbook, if you haven't already submitted it with Homework #2.
Exercise 1.22a only on p. 52 of the textbook.
Exercise 1.26a only on p. 53 of the textbook.
Exercise 2.18d only on p. 111 of the textbook.

Please put MATH 3410 HW3 and your full name in the name of the pdf file.

This is the complete set of problems for Homework #3 due in pdf in Canvas by 3 pm on Thursday, March 21, 2024.

Please read textbook section 3.9.

Homework #4 due in pdf in Canvas by 3 pm on Tuesday, April 2, 2024

Exercise 1.34c(i) only on p. 55 of the textbook.
Exercise 1.36b(ii) only on p. 55 of the textbook.
Exercise 2.35b only on p. 114 of the texbook.
Exercise 2.36b only on p. 114 of the texbook.
Exercise 2.39a only on p. 114 of the textbook.

Please put MATH 3410 HW4 and your full name in the name of the pdf file.

This is the complete set of problems for Homework #4 due in pdf in Canvas by 3 pm on Tuesday, April 2, 2024.

Please read textbook sections 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, and the entire Chapter 4.

Midterm #2 due in pdf in Canvas by 3 pm on Thursday, April 18, 2024

Exercise 1.11b only on p. 50 of the textbook.
Exercise 1.16c only on pp. 51-52 of the textbook.
Exercise 1.34c(ii) only on p. 55 of the textbook.
Exercise 1.36b(iii) only on p. 55 of the textbook.
Exercise 3.6b(i) only on p. 181 of the textbook.
Exercise 2.38 on p. 114 of the textbook.
Exercise 3.39b(i) only on p. 190 of the textbook.
Exercise 2.4b only on p. 108 of the textbook.
Exercise 2.6 on p. 108 of the textbook.
Exercise 3.8 on p. 182 of the textbook.

Please put MATH 3410 Midterm2 and your full name in the name of the pdf file.

This is the complete set of problems for Midterm #2 due in pdf in Canvas by 3 pm on Thursday, April 18, 2024.

Please read textbook sections 5.4, 5.4.1, 5.4.2, 8.1, 2.7, 3.4, 3.4.1, 3.4.2. and 3.5.

Topics for a 5-page report due by email by 3 pm on Tuesday, April 23, 2024

A part of the final exam will be a 5-page report on a topic of your choice related to the course. Your choice of the topic for the report must be submitted for my approval by email by 3 pm on Tuesday, April 23, 2024. The title of your email message to me should include Math 3410. Please note that for now this is only your choice of the topic. The 5-page report itself will be due together with the final exam on May 9, 2024.

Final Exam due in pdf in Canvas by 3 pm on Thursday, May 9, 2024

Please bear in mind that everyone is expected to submit written solutions individually. That is, even if in some cases your work may be a result of group discussions, each person is responsible to write up the solutions in their own words by themselves. Please take the time to show all your work and provide a detailed explanation of your reasoning in your own words.

5-page written report on the approved topic.
Exercise 2.8abcd on pp. 108-109 of the textbook.
Exercise 3.15c on p. 184 of the textbook.
Exercise 5.36a only on p. 293 of the textbook. Please provide the complete computation.

Please put MATH 3410 Final and your full name in the name of the pdf file. Please submit only one pdf and indicate clearly which part is the final and which is the resubmission of some midterm problems.

This is the complete set of problems for the Final Exam due in pdf in Canvas by 3 pm on Thursday, May 9, 2024.