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The task:

The Playfair cipher with $I = J, X$ added into two same letters and the key keep distance.

The plaintext:

CORONAVIRUS SPREADS FAST

The whitespaces in plaintext and key are to be discarded.

not sure what they mean by I = J, X

The table

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I am not quite sure what they are asking for. I know that you usally remove letter J and replace it by I, But now it says * I = J,X" what does he mean by that?

This is what I've written as "coronavirus spreads fast"

CO RO NA VI RU SX SP RE AD SF AS TX

Daniel S
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Papps
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1 Answers1

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It means any instances of double letters in encryption are split up by injecting a letter x (as well as the usual I = J).

In other words read the instructions as

  • I=J
  • X added into two same letters
  • Key KEEP DISTANCE
Daniel S
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