The following is a puzzle that I was given back in the early 1970’s. Everything that follows this introductory paragraph is part of the puzzle I was given. That includes all of the paragraphs below statement 14. The paragraphs below are kind of dated. I changed a couple of letters in line 14 because I think some measurements might now be more precise than whenever this puzzle was created. I hope I didn't make any typos.
- A.B.C.D.E.F.G.H.I.J.K.L.M.N.O.P.Q.R.S.T.U.V.W.X.Y.Z.
- AA,B;AAA,C;AAAA,D;AAAAA,E;AAAAAA,F;AAAAAAA,G;AAAAAAAA,H; AAAAAAAAA,I;AAAAAAAAAA,J.
- AKALB;AKAKALC;AKAKAKALD.AKALB;BKALC;CKALD;DKALE. BKELG;GLEKB.FKDLJ;JLFKD.
- CMALB;DMALC;IMGLB.
- CMNLC;NKNLN.DMDLN;EMELN.
- JLAN;JKALAA;JKBLAB;AAKALAB.JKJLBN;JKJKJLCN.FNKGLFG.
- BPCLF;EPBLJ;FPJLFN.
- FQBLC;JQBLE;FNQFLJ.
- CRBLI;BRELCB
- JPJLJRBLSLANN;JPJPJLJRCLTLANNN.JPSLT;JPTLJRD.
- AQJLU;UQJLAQSLV.
- ULWA;UPBLWB;AWDMALWDLDPU.VLWNA;VPCLWNC. VQJLWNNA;VQSLWNNNA.JPEWFGHLEFWGH;SPEWFGHLEFGWH.
- GIWIHYHN;TKCYT.ZYCWADAF.
- DPZPWNHFGRCQC.
Much speculation has recently been devoted to the possibility of intelligence elsewhere in the universe. So far no evidence exists to indicate that there is intelligent life other than us. If intelligent life does exist, the problem arises of how to contact it so that the culture receiving its message will acknowledge it.
For instance, consider Earth for a moment. If we were to send a message in some language what language would we choose? Since there are some several thousand languages and dialects spoken it is easy to see the problem involved.
The above message comes from somewhere within our solar system. Its creator felt it had circumvented the above problem by assuming it had chosen a language that could be universally understood within our solar system. See if you can solve this code. If you can you must then say where the message came from, which indicated you have totally solved the puzzle. Here are some rules to follow:
The numbers 1. through 14. merely indicate a statement of lettered symbols. They are not part of the code. You must proceed in the numbered sequence or the code will be impossible to solve. A comma indicates a slight pause, a semicolon a greater pause, and a period the end of a statement. This message can only come from one place in the solar system and statement 14. represents it.