So we have 9 potentially viable solutions that are shown on the map below. Among these 19 solutions, 10 are in the ocean or in completely natural/rural areas. 46 of them lead to locations outside the map and are to be eliminated. Of these 4 million, 65 meet all the constraints (0.0017%). In short, this method leads to testing nearly 4 million possible solutions. Note that the precision of the location hidden in the cipher should be of the order of 1km/0.6mi, because the distance is only known with a precision of 1/16 inches (0.4mi with the scale of the map) and I considered that, if minutes are used to express angles, they are only multiples of 5 (wich implies a precision of 2.5°).
#Rail maze alcatraz solution code
The solution consists in joining these two portions of code and to test if they respect the constraints of length (32 characters in total) and repeated letters (C, Delta, O). Other patterns are of course possible, but these seem to be simple for a first approach. For the angle, we also look for one integer X and one fraction Y (X and Y), written in the form : X Y RADIANS X Y X Y RADIANS X H Y M X HOURS Y HOURS X Y : ANGLE X Y X Y ANGLE.
For the distance, we're looking for two numbers (X and Y) written in several possible forms: X AND Y X AND Y INCHES INCHES X AND Y X AND Y IN IN X AND Y LENGTH X AND Y X AND Y LENGHT.The idea is therefore to build two portions of cipher based on the following models : Obviously, this method will give several possible answers, but we will see later that they are finally quite few (for those which have been tested, of course). These last two constraints will help us to find what messages the cipher could contain. And the most important point : we have three repeated letters: C, Delta and O, that the solution must respect.But this is a fragile hypothesis and I didn't use it in the following process. The fact that the Zodiac didn't choose to write 2 lines of 16 characters could indicate that one line concerns the angle and the other one the distance. Even if this is not certain, we can think that there is a separation in the solution : a first part with 17 characters, then and a second on with 15, corresponding to each of the two lines of the cipher. The solution must obviously contains 32 letters.Regarding the distance, we expect a measurement in inches, in the form of an integer and a fractionnal part (1/16, 1/8, 3/16.Finally, it should be noted that the reference of this angle is indicated as being the magnetic north which, in the San Francisco region and in 1970, deviates by 17° from the geographic north. The angle here is expected to be measured in hours and possibly minutes. Regarding the angle, the drawing on the map suggests that it is measured like on a clock : it is highly probable that the term RADIANS does not refer to true radians measured with the pi number (who measures angles with fractions of PI in the real world ?).From the map accompanying the Z32, it is clear that the origin of the coordinates must be the Mount Diablo. This code contains two pieces of information, as specified by the Zodiac in a letter sent one month after sending the original cipher : an angle (called "RADIANS") and a distance (measured in “INCHES”).This is a homophonic substitution cipher, written from left to right and from top to bottom, without words written backwards or misspellings (which is not the case in the other decrypted codes, but we can hope that the short length of the Z32 cipher protects us from these difficulties ?).The starting idea here is very simple : build a large number of plausibles solutions and test them to identify those which satisfy the constraints derived from the following hypothesis : Unlike the Z408 or Z340 ciphers, and if the Z32 is indeed based on an homophonic substitution method, it is almost impossible to detect patterns and therefore to find the right solution.
#Rail maze alcatraz solution full
Here is a modest attempt to advance a little in the understanding of the famous Z32 cipher of the Zodiac.Īs you know, this cipher was supposed to reveal the location of a bomb intended to "anilate a full school buss" and was accompanied by a map which should help in its resolution.Ī full decryption of this code is made nearly impossible due to its short length : it only has 32 characters, of which only 3 are repeated.
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