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Morse Code

#1) I was speaking with my friend who is a Ham radio operator and he said that he needs to be able to tap this code faster for the next level certificate.  So I began to think about this...In Morse code, communication is accomplished by pressing briefly on telegraph keys for a dot (.) and pressing longer for a dash(-).  Combination of these dots and dashes are used to replace letters, numerals, and punctuation.  In simplest form, what would be the longest combination of symbols needed to write the twenty-six different letters of our alphabet? (3pt)

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

Below is a message in code.  Letters in the same word are separated by dashes. Can you break the code? 

29-3-1   13-11   15-13-24  12-2-22   6-21  6-35-13-34-10-30-13-1   11-14  35-28-15-19-3-26-25-36  24-13-1-28-10    26-3-25-24

HINT: the number 3 can be replace with the letter E.  (4pts)

Answer:  #1) The total is four.  The alphabet has 26 letters.  A single keystroke, a dot (.) or a dash (-), can suffice as the symbol for two of the letters,  4 more letters can be accomplished through the use of 2 strokes.  8 more letters can be accomplished through 3 strokes, and the remaining twelve letters can be made using 4 keystrokes each.

#2) The Beale cipher works by denoting each letter with the number of a work in a key that begins with that letter.  Our modified cipher gives the number of a letter in the phrase.  The translation is the phrase that was written over the door of Plato's Academy: " Let no one who is ignorant of geometry enter here."  More information on the Beale cipher can be found at  www.unmuseum.org/beal.htm