Letter, Syllable, & Word Frequencies
When trying to decipher an enciphered message you may find letter and syllable frequencies
to be helpful. The most common letters, numbers, or symbols used in the message
are likely to be the most common letters of the plain alphabet, spaces, or punctuation marks. By identifying patterns and the frequency of letters, syllables, two and
three letter words, etc, you can better decipher secret messages.
Let's say you get an enciphered message reading:
NMO GRBTF MZW ZTGZCW POOV NMO WXDO; ZVF NMOBO MZW ZTGZCW POOV ZW DSUM KRRF QRBNSVO
ZW PZF XV XN
What two and three letters are used more than once? What is the most common letter?
Which letter is most likely a vowel like the letter "e"? The deciphered answer
is:
THE WORLD HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE SAME; AND THERE HAS ALWAYS BEEN AS MUCH GOOD FORTUNE
AS BAD IN IT.
-Quote by Machiavelli, "Discorsi"
Do you see how the word "THE" is represented by "NMO"? "O" is one of the most frequent
letters because it is actually the letter "E." The following assignment will help
you to identify your own frequency charts to use when deciphering messages like the
one above.
Use the reading attached to this document to identify a frequency count for:
a) letters a-z
b) two and three letter words (an, of, etc.)
c) syllables (ll, tt, etc.)
d) first character of each word (like how many words start with "w", etc.)
e) punctuation marks (,?:"!...)
Perhaps you should start by writing out a list of each frequency assignment above.
Then count the frequency for each assignment, a-e, as shown above. When you are
all done, analyze the results and write out an ordered list of frequencies for each
assignment above.
The report for assignment a may look something like:
Total Characters = 354
Letter Frequency
E 135
R ... 122 ...
Reading Sample
5 Building Blocks of Good Design
1. Proportion of a Single Item
How a single item is displayed. As an example: Rather than using a square to outline
text or graphics use a proportional rectangle that is pleasing to the eye. The Greeks
used a rectangle, now called the golden rectangle, that used proportions of approximately 1 to 1.618. Photographs are now printed on paper in a standard 3X5" because it is a shape that is fairly close to that of a golden rectangle, a shape
that is more pleasing to the eye.
2. Proportion of a Relative Sizes
How two or more objects on a page compare to one another with respect to your message.
As a general rule, larger items on a page are usually the more important items in
your overall message.
3. Balance
It's important to maintain a balance of size and position of objects to provide the
reader with a clear and interesting message. The visual center (golden mean) of
a 8.5X11" paper is slightly above and to the left of the mathematical center. It's often
a good idea to place the dominant object in the visual center or visual starting
point of your document. Consider the visual weight of each object based on the objects
properties: size, color, pattern, angle of display. Making use of white space to separate
items can sometimes have a dramatic and effective roll upon the acquisition of balance.
4. Contrast
A paper without contrast is like a speech in monotonic presentation. Contrast adds
to the importance of items, gathers interest, and spices up your document. Contrast
is often added to documents by varying the type used for the text (font, style, size,
color, etc.). Use of graphics, such as graphs, tables, photographs, borders, and illustrations
are another method for providing contrast. Be careful not to overdo the contrast,
creating a busy and irritating document that shouts at you rather than captures your interest in a pleasing way.
5. Rhythm
How are items placed on your document? Are you leading the reader's eyes around the
document, or is it unorganized and hard to follow? Design your document to force
the reader's eye to move up and down, left to right, in a circle, etc., as needed
to capture the reader's interest and clearly direct them towards skimming and scouring modes
of reading.