Pi Codes by Scott Kim question

You ask if we would mail you the answers to the Pi codes. Naturally, I reply, of course not! But I will give you some hints, and if you push, I will answer your question more completely if you ask me again. Fair enough? I hope so.

Here is Pi to eight digits: 3.1415927

Here are the five statements:

1. We won your fund drive sign.

2. Circles and diameters are equally important.

3. The easy vowels echo mathematical magnitude.

4. Bring in your initial six questions.

5. May I draw a round perimeter?

We originally put this poster up as part of our Pi day celebration, and it was a math puzzle. In our transition to Codes And Ciphers, we realized that it was still appropriate. I will approach it here as a problem for a cryptanalist

First, having the number itself to work with is very helpful. A codebreaker calls this a "crib." Code breaking is as much about figuring out the encipherment as it is about reading the message.

Second, a good code master will never send a message in more than one code without changing it in some other way, by altering words or word orders, or the very words themselves. In this case, Scott Kim, the author of these lines, has not obeyed this rule.

Where to start? You may have noticed that each sentence has six words. This might be useful. Coincidence? I think not!

Look at the second and fourth digits of the number Pi, our crib. You will notice they are the same. Look at each sentence. What do the second and fourth words have in common?

Some of the sentences, three and four, have a word hint to the solution, the others make more general remarks about circles.

Two of the sentences' solutions, one and four, do not rely on a numerical trick.

I hope I have given you enough to get you started.

Is it static or current when you rub two rocks together?

          Static electricity happens when we pile electrons on the surface of an object and they can't get away. It can also happen if we rub electrons OFF an object. When electrons move, we call that current.

          When we rub two rocks together, if they are the right kind of rocks (quartz) and it is dark enough, we see sparks. These sparks are caused by a different effect, although it also has to do with electrons. The rock is made of crystals, and the atoms in the crystals are connected with very strong forces. When we crush or break the crystals by banging or rubbing the rocks together, we release some of that energy. The energy excites electrons in the atoms, they bounce around and as they relax back into place, they send out light. We see this light as sparks. This is called piezoelectricity.

          By the way, you can see the same thing in a very dark, like pitch black, room with Wint-O-Green Lifesavers as the sugar or flavor crystals break. (It's not polite to chew with your mouth open unless you are in the dark with Wint-0-Green Lifesavers. Then it is science!)