0+D4R2NBZ4JDCFF5OFBHH
SHR43ADRZK0BSEG0CEIS
0J50XKV00PKDDSL5DKFL
CHFCIF3JZDKECJSTF5J3
HR2NKPKDFSFK-1

Hint: 0 = 0. but 1 = 27, the line breaks don't matter, and the answer has four letters.

(In reply to re(3): attention by Gamer)

After quite a bit of work, I've come up with this:

boingamoebascowsadditionprimepairspartypeople100herbivoresfatcatsnumberquizcountingexercise

I began by assigning a 5-digit binary code to each number of the alphabet, starting with A= 00001, B=00010, C = 00011, etc. and following Z= 11010 continued with the digits 1 through 5:  1 = 11011, 2= 11100, 3 = 11101, 4= 11110, and 5= 11111.  Finally, based on the hint stated in the problem, I set 0 = 00000.

Next, I started "translating" the problem ciphertext between the "0+" and the "-1" into the binary code.  The first few letters, D4R2NB become 00100 11110 10010 11100 01110 00010.

After completing that step, I used the "0+" and "-1" instructions on the resulting binary string to get:
0 00100 11110 10010 11100 01110 00010 ..... dropping the final digit of the last binary group (to comply with the "-1" instruction.

Then, I regrouped the binary string into small groups of 5, beginning with the added 0:

00010 01111 01001 01110 00111 00001 0....

Finally, I converted this new set of binary groups back into alphanumeric characters using the assignments made earlier:

00010 = "B", 01111 = "O", 01001 = "I", 00111 = "N", 00111 = "G", 00001 = "A", etc.

BOINGA... and so on.

 

Now, I'll look for the next step.

Edited on January 29, 2006, 6:34 pm

Posted by Mindrod on 2006-01-28 16:09:18