General Report on Tunny


22B Page 47

In order to prevent simple statistical recognition of the chi-stream each individual chi pattern is constructed with

(1) As nearly as possible an equal number of dots and crosses in the undifferenced and differenced wheel.

(2) No stretch of 5 or more identical consecutive characters in the undifferenced wheel. (See R5 p 4.)

Alleged chi patterns fulfilling these conditions are said to be 'legal'.

The conditions of legality are most obviously fulfilled by the pattern:
    Χ: . . x x . . x x . .  
  ΔΧ: . x . x . x . x . x  

A few of the patterns recovered consisted entirely of this pattern and were known as 'perfect wheels', e.g.
    Χ5: . . x x . . x x . . x x . . x x . . x x . . x  
  ΔΧ5: . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x x  

In other cases the pattern was used over shorter stretches.

In the construction of chi patterns no attention was paid to the distribution of dots and crosses in the Δ2 wheel. However, empirical evidence (see R3 p. 18) shows that                                                                                                B1

The fact that Δ2Χi → x can be seen to be a natural result of the conditions of legality and the popularity of the pattern . . x x . . x x

The following table gives the conditions of legality in numerical terms:
Wheel Length No. of crosses in Χ No. of crosses in ΔΧ Av. no. of crosses in Δ2Χ
1
2
3
4
5
41
31
29
26
23
20 or 21
15 or 16
14 or 15
13
11 or 12
20
16
14
12 or 14
12
26
19½
19
16½
14

Fig. 22(I)

The number of legal chis is discussed in 25X, and the frequency of various patterns of 5 and 10 consecutive characters in R3 pp. 125, 126.


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