Definition:Frequency Analysis
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Definition
Frequency analysis is the exercise of analysis of ciphertext to determine the frequency of occurrence of each of the elements of that text.
Examples
Substitution Cipher
Frequency analysis is often a fruitful technique to use on a substitution cipher.
If such a substitution cipher is applied to English words, then use can be made of the fact that the letter $\text E$ is the most common letter in conventional English.
Also see
- Results about frequency analysis can be found here.
Sources
- 2008: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (4th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): frequency analysis