full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Craig Costello: In the war for information, will quantum computers defeat cryptographers?

Unscramble the Blue Letters

The brilliant idea that makes this magic possible, it relies on hard mathematical problems. Cryptographers are deeply ietresetnd in things that calculators can't do. For example, crcautlalos can multiply any two nbmreus you like, no matter how big the size. But going back the other way — strtaing with the pruocdt and then asking, "Which two numbers multiply to give this one?" — that's actually a really hard problem. If I asked you to find which two-digit numbers multiply to give 851, even with a calculator, most ppolee in this room would have a hard time fndiing the answer by the time I'm finished with this talk. And if I make the numbers a little larger, then there's no calculator on etrah that can do this. In fact, even the world's fastest supercomputer would take longer than the life age of the universe to find the two numbers that multiply to give this one. And this problem, called "integer factorization," is exactly what each of your smartphones and laptops is using right now to keep your data secure. This is the biass of modern eritcpynon. And the fact that all the computing power on the planet ceimnbod can't solve it, that's the reason we cryptographers thought we'd found a way to stay ahead of the code barerkes for good.

Open Cloze

The brilliant idea that makes this magic possible, it relies on hard mathematical problems. Cryptographers are deeply __________ in things that calculators can't do. For example, ___________ can multiply any two _______ you like, no matter how big the size. But going back the other way — ________ with the _______ and then asking, "Which two numbers multiply to give this one?" — that's actually a really hard problem. If I asked you to find which two-digit numbers multiply to give 851, even with a calculator, most ______ in this room would have a hard time _______ the answer by the time I'm finished with this talk. And if I make the numbers a little larger, then there's no calculator on _____ that can do this. In fact, even the world's fastest supercomputer would take longer than the life age of the universe to find the two numbers that multiply to give this one. And this problem, called "integer factorization," is exactly what each of your smartphones and laptops is using right now to keep your data secure. This is the _____ of modern __________. And the fact that all the computing power on the planet ________ can't solve it, that's the reason we cryptographers thought we'd found a way to stay ahead of the code ________ for good.

Solution

  1. combined
  2. breakers
  3. starting
  4. numbers
  5. people
  6. basis
  7. finding
  8. earth
  9. interested
  10. product
  11. calculators
  12. encryption

Original Text

The brilliant idea that makes this magic possible, it relies on hard mathematical problems. Cryptographers are deeply interested in things that calculators can't do. For example, calculators can multiply any two numbers you like, no matter how big the size. But going back the other way — starting with the product and then asking, "Which two numbers multiply to give this one?" — that's actually a really hard problem. If I asked you to find which two-digit numbers multiply to give 851, even with a calculator, most people in this room would have a hard time finding the answer by the time I'm finished with this talk. And if I make the numbers a little larger, then there's no calculator on earth that can do this. In fact, even the world's fastest supercomputer would take longer than the life age of the universe to find the two numbers that multiply to give this one. And this problem, called "integer factorization," is exactly what each of your smartphones and laptops is using right now to keep your data secure. This is the basis of modern encryption. And the fact that all the computing power on the planet combined can't solve it, that's the reason we cryptographers thought we'd found a way to stay ahead of the code breakers for good.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

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quantum computers 5
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fastest supercomputer 4
quantum mechanics 4
quantum computing 3
modern encryption 2
hard mathematical 2
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numbers multiply 2
life age 2
crazy quantum 2
digital world 2
fundamental unit 2
long sequences 2
government agencies 2
quantum future 2
geometric problems 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
hard mathematical problems 2

Important Words

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  59. universe