# Quotes surely. Cryptogram #2

Answers must include method of encryption along with plain text and explanation (explanation refers to thoughts or clues that made you think to do certain things).

## Cryptogram #2

kbemzkbedje de emz drqdelzrebefz dreenfkzre ak bff lmdedjbf nzezbnjm.

Hint:

Kashmir, $-1/12$

• Does this rely on solving #1? (I had a quick look at the comments and edit history.) – Rand al'Thor May 21 '15 at 10:23
• @randal'thor I couldn't edit deleted post so I undeleted it first and changed the puzzle. It actually has no link to that apart from some very common things. – RE60K May 21 '15 at 10:24
• I believe it is a substitution cipher. But tell me: were all the mistakes made on purpose to mislead us? – mmking May 25 '15 at 15:52
• @mmking maybe. maybe not. – RE60K May 26 '15 at 5:03
• I think I've got it. But can you explain what you mean by "Kashmir" and what it has to do with the puzzle? – mmking May 26 '15 at 14:44

## 1 Answer

Mathematics is the indispensable instrument of all physical research.
- by Marcellin Berthelot

It is a substitution cipher.

The cipher letters:    k b e m z d j r q l f n a
-------------------------
The plaintext letters: m a t h e i c n d p l r o
f   s     y         m


A few of the letters stand for two letters. For the words containing that letter, the decoded letter must be alternated.

For instance, letter k stands for both m and f. The first word, the fifth word, and the sixth word in the ciphertext all have k in it. So in the first word, k stands for m. In the fifth word, k stands for f, and in the sixth word, k stands for m.

• you're missing the link,i.e. a function that tells us the substitution mapping. – RE60K May 26 '15 at 14:55
• I don't understand where you derived your cipher text from. Can you explain its origin, or was it just trial and error? – Ian MacDonald May 26 '15 at 22:37
• @IanMacDonald Do you mean why I thought it was a substitution cipher? I plugged it into Quipqiup and got something about mathematics and research. Given that it actually made a little sense, I figured out the rest. – mmking May 27 '15 at 2:15
• something like f(b)=a. What is f? – RE60K May 27 '15 at 5:15
• @mmking, no, I was curious how you came up with the cypher mapping. The cypher mapping is not evident to me just by reading the puzzle text. Is the cypher mapping described by the hint? How did you know to map k->m, for example? Did you just paste the string into quipquip and then brute force a solution, or was there something specific that lead you to use the cypher that you have found? – Ian MacDonald May 27 '15 at 14:10