TheCodeBreakers
Generalized, the
situation is x + y = 9. Mathematicians call this an equation in two
unknowns, and a single such equation has no unique solution. Two
equations with the same two unknowns are required. The one-time
system prevents the cryptanalyst from ever bringing two or more such
equations together. The utter absence of any pattern whatsoever within
its key precludes him from finding two occurrences of a given key
character by reconstructing a pattern. And the tape's exhaustless novelty
makes it impossible for him to locate these occurrences in any key
repetitions. The cryptanalyst is thus denied any chance of getting
additional information to delimit one of the unknowns; he is left with all
32 possibilities for the key character, and consequently all 32 for the
plaintext. True it is that in the cryptanalytic case of an equation in two
unknowns, some solutions are more probable than others. Thus, there is