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In this project, we needed to put our Python skills to use in order to find Ms. Tran's lost cow. We were given clues that revealed the cow's location, but they were encrypted in the Caesar Cipher. We needed to use our code to decipher the clues and find the cow.
Procedure:
Clue 1 - We got the first clue from Ms. Tran: Vb. Cajw oxdwm jw xynw pjcn. Bqn rb yjwrltrwp knljdbn qna lxf qjb pxwn vrbbrwp!
We decided to run the decrypt function 26 times, so we wrote down "for i in range(1, 27)". Then, we made the key increase by one every time we ran it so that we could see all 26 results at once. This was our result:
We quickly found the right clue; it said, "Ms. Tran found an open gate. She is panicking because her cow has gone missing!" Cheered up by our success, we used the same method for the next 3 clues.
Clue 2 - Ms. Tran emailed the second clue to us so that other groups wouldn't be able to see it. The encrypted clue said, Tcwn uckf jg ucy vjg eqy jcpikpi qwv ykvj LJ mkfu kp vjg Ewg Swcf gcvkpi okpv ecpfa.
This code showed us the answer right away: "Raul said he saw the cow hanging out with JH kids in the Cue Quad eating mint candy". Immediately, we wrote down both our clues in a Google Doc (Google Doc ) and asked Ms. Tran for the next one.
Clue 3 - Once we received the third clue, we pasted it into our code and looked for the answer. The clue itself was: Tz. Ayhu yljhssz zllpun Tz. Rpun huk Tz. Zhujolg lhapun aol zhtl tpua jhukf.We used the same method as before to find the third clue.
This clue revealed that "Ms. Tran recalls seeing Ms. King and Ms. Sanchez eating the same mint candy." We wrote down the clue in the doc and moved on to the next one.
Clue 4 - The fourth clue required the same strategy as the previous ones: repeat the code 26 times while increasing the shift amount. The encrypted clue said, Awumwvm nwcvl i kivlg ezixxmz eqbp “Kitt um” ezqbbmv vmfb bw i vcujmz: 650806…. Just like before, we pasted it into our code and searched for the answer.
This clue stated that "Someone found a candy wrapper with 'Call me' written next to a number: 650806...". At first, we took no note of the number and simply moved on to the final clue. That's where the trouble started.
Clue 5 - The final clue seemed no different than the others, so we pasted it into our prepared code. We found no answer. The clue said, Zme cuf swbjs cgwfpmy aa sdeo gx goa fv. So otn zbuqe iz. Pb batkkm aw Rs. Yjpjpke’a uohpkk tw mnv pox nabxtpbk svait and refused to reveal any more information. Then, it occurred to us that this clue must have a multi-digit key. We wondered if the number in the previous clue had anything to do with it, and Ms. Tran confirmed that it did. She also revealed that the key had 10 digits; 6 digits down, 4 more to go! The next day, we were still completely lost in the process. After trying multiple keys, there seemed to be no good answer. Then, we realized our mistake: we had been using the "decrypt" function, which shifts every number by the same amount rather than different amounts for each letter. We switched to the "decrypt10" function, which was written specifically for multi-digit keys. There were several bugs, but with some help from Ms. Tran, we managed to fix our code. After that, we started guessing. We could see what some of the words were supposed to be, so I counted the number of spaces between the encrypted letter and the correct one. At long last, we received our answer: "The cow loves candies as much as you do. No one stole it. It walked to Ms. Sanchez's office to get his favorite snack." Finally, we were done!
S - One of our strengths was how quickly we figured out the strategy for the first four clues. We managed to quickly understand the requirements for the key to repeat and increase, so we got through the first 4 clues very quickly.
O - In this project, we got the opportunity to collaborate to solve a problem, as well as the opportunity to get more comfortable with using Python.
U - While working on this project, we understood how important it is to pay attention to little details that could potentially mess up the code, especially in the fifth clue.
L - One of our limitations was how long it took us to figure out the fifth clue. We lost a lot of time by using the "decrypt" function instead of the "decrypt10" function, so it took us longer than some otehr groups to find the answer.
W -
I - We needed to think insightfully and critically in order to find the bugs in our code and use the "decrypt10" function correctly and at the right time.
S -
C - We definitely needed to be clear communicators during this project, because my partner and I needed to share our ideas and thought processes so that the other also understood.
R -
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