Cow Finding Challenge

Project Description:

Ms. Tran’s cow has gone missing and she would like to get your help in finding it. You will decode a series of Caesar-encrypted clues to uncover what happened, who did it, and where the cow is now. There are 5 encrypted messages. Each message is encrypted with a different Caesar shift. The messages are in sequential story order—they must be solved in order. Use logic, context clues, and your Caesar decryption skills to crack each one. The final message will reveal the cow location. You will receive the next clue only after you crack the previous one.

Procedure:

First we watched a video introducing the concept of Caesar's Cipher. Caesar's Cipher is a simple encryption technique where each letter in a message is shifted a certain number of positions down the alphabet. This shift is known as the "key". For example, a shift of 3 would replace 'A' with 'D', 'B' with 'E', and so on. It's a type of substitution cipher, where one letter is replaced by another. We then first were taught how to code a simple Caesar's Cipher with one key. We then made an decryption function too, by subtracting the key instead. Then we were given a challenge with Caesar's Cipher: to find Ms. Tran's missing cow. The first four clues were fairly easy to solve. We just plugged the clue directly into our Caesars Cipher code that we already wrote before.  The fifth clue, the last one, was pretty difficult to solve. We first tried the 6 digit key which was given to us in the fourth clue.  This worked, but we knew our code needed to be longer. We figured out the last four digits by counting down the distance from the top to the unscrambled message in each of the clues. This gave us four numbers, for each of the four clues. We then tried this 10 digit key and realized it worked. 

Clue #1:

Original: Hmaly zllpun aol ovvm wypuaz vu aol mvvaihss mplsk, Tz. Ayhu ruvdz oly jvd ohz nvul tpzzpun! Zol pz whupjrpun! Jhu fvb olsw nla aol jvd ihjr?

Derived: After seeing the hoof prints on the football field, Ms. Tran knows her cow has gone missing! She is panicking! Can you help get the cow back?

Clue #2:

Original: Knltncc bjrm bqn bjf SQ trmb qjerwp odw frcq cqn lxf jwm njcrwp vrwc ljwmrnb cxpncqna wnja cqn Ldn Zdjm.zvtl QO rpkz lhapun tpua jhukf ulhy aol Jbl Xbhk

Derived:  Beckett said she saw JH kids having fun with the cow and eating mint candies together near the Cue Quad.

Clue #3:

Original: Pibbqm umvbqwvml ammqvo i jzwsmv riz wn uqvb kivlqma qv bpm wnnqkm epmv apm bzqml bw omb wvm nwz pmzamtn.

Derived:  Hattie mentioned seeing a broken jar of mint candies in the office when she tried to get one for herself.

Clue #4:

Original: Bjkarwj oxdwm j vrwc fajyyna wnja cqn Vdayqh yjcrx frcq j blarkkunm wxcn: ljuu vn jc 650806

Derived: Sabrina found a mint wrapper near the Murphy patio with a scribbled note: call me at 650806. 

Clue #5:

Original: Zme cud jaupe tnl kjtiy jgy eqoqe txfrvp yo gka pry fivuyrbn xnicq. Vx tnm yaxtn miu; on fgqkmd ax Vy. Aatjqmi’x wflplm zt oez liwjd, tnlw qasg oaa erzm bhk SP qnda.

Derived: The cow broke the candy jar while trying to get his favorite snack. No one stole him; he walked to Ms. Sanchez’s office to get candy, then hung out with the JH kids.

Reflection:

S-The strength of my work is my creativity and perseverance. I thought outside the box on how to solve the fifth clue and even though I struggled quite a bit with solving the codes, I never gave up.

O-Some opportunities to improve are to challenge myself more and properly use the previous four clues to figure out the fifth one which was challenging.

U-During this project, I learned a lot. I learned how to use python, and how to code a Caesar's Ciper with a one digit key, ten digit key, and multi digit key.

L-A limitation I encountered was that on the fifth problem I got stuck and my code was not working for a while. It took me multiple tries to find and figure out the error. 

WISCR: I think I displayed W (Well-Rounded) and I (Insightful Critical Thinker). I think I was well-rounded because I thought creatively and outside the box but I was also technically smart with coding. I was an insightful critical thinker because I thoughtfully and deeply considered the clue problems and analyzed it well.