Humanity has been using ciphers since time immemorial. From primitive "gibberish" - the conventional language of itinerant traders, to modern cryptographic systems, the art of encryption has come a long way and has changed beyond recognition. However, encryption of numbers and numbers is a very special case, and there are many simple methods designed specifically for this purpose.
Instructions
Step 1
The easiest way to encrypt a number in a note is to use an old and little-known notation system. Even Roman numerals are not always easy to read, especially at first glance and without a reference book. Few will be able to "fly" to determine that the long line MMMCDLXXXIX hides the number 3489.
Step 2
Many are familiar with the Roman numeral system, so it cannot be called reliable for encryption. It is much better to resort, for example, to the Greek system, where numbers are also indicated by letters, but much more letters are used. In the OMG inscription, which can easily be mistaken for a widespread expression of emotions on the Internet, the number 443 written in Greek can be hidden. The letter "O micron" corresponds to the number 400, the letter "Mu" stands for 40, and "Gamma" replaces the three.
Step 3
The disadvantage of these letter systems is that they often require exotic letters and signs. This is not difficult if your code is written in pen on paper, but it becomes a problem if you want to send it, say, by email. Computer fonts include Greek characters, but they can be difficult to type. And if you chose something even more unusual, like the old Cyrillic notation or Egyptian numeric hieroglyphs, then the computer simply will not be able to transfer them.
Step 4
For such cases, we can recommend a simple way, which in Russia in the old days was used by all the same itinerant traders - peddlers and ofeni. For successful trading, it was vital for them to agree on prices among themselves, but in such a way that no outsider would find out about it. Therefore, peddlers have developed many clever encryption methods.
They dealt with numbers as follows. First you need to take a word in which there are ten different letters, for example "justice". Then the letters are numbered from one to zero. "P" becomes the sign for one, "v" for four, and so on. After that, any number can be written in letters instead of numbers in the usual decimal system. For example, the year 2011 is recorded according to the ofen system as "reepp". Try to figure out for yourself which number is hidden in the line "a, pvpoirs".
Step 5
"Justice" is not the only word in the Russian language suitable for this method. "Diligence" is just as good: it also has ten non-recurring letters. You may well be looking for other possible bases on your own.
