Inquiry & Nature of Science Reveal Questions Codebusters (Section: 2 / Paragraph: a / Line: 1) 04/14/2023 Are Class I calculators allowed to have a "Grand Total" or "GT" key? No. A legal Class I calculator may not have a Grand Total function key. (Section: 3 / Paragraph: e / Sub-Paragraph: iii / Line: 1) 04/04/2023 Can a cryptogram be in any language other than Spanish (e.g. French, Italian)? No. All Cryptograms will be in English with the exception of Xenocrypts (3.e.iii) that can only be in Spanish. (Section: 3 / Paragraph: e / Sub-Paragraph: vi / Line: 1) 04/30/2023 Can cryptarithms be given in any base other than base 10? No. Cryptarithms will all be in base 10 this year. (Section: 3 / Paragraph: e / Sub-Paragraph: vi / Line: 2) 03/03/2023 How are cryptarithms scored? The decoded values answer would be graded using the number of errors when comparing against the expected answer. As per 4.c.i, two or fewer errors would result in full credit. (Section: 4. / Paragraph: i. / Line: 1) 02/28/2023 If the answer given by a competitor to a Baconian cipher is T H I/J N K, would that be counted as correct or as 1 error since the competitor did not choose between I and J? Yes. It would count as an single error because they did not properly decode the original cipher text. (Section: 3 / Line: 1) 01/25/2023 In the rules for Codebusters, it is unclear whether we will be using International or American Morse Code. Since there are differences, I need to know which version we will be using, in order to study the correct alphabet. Thanks! The morse code based ciphers will use International Morse Code. The mapping of the letters using this alphabet will be included in the resource page. (Section: 2 / Line: 2) 01/30/2023 On the exam, will the provided Baconian mapping have I, J, U, and V as their own codes, or will I,J and U,V share codes? For Baconian ciphers, the I and J will share codes as will U and V. The Baconian mapping will also be included in the resource sheet. (Section: 3 / Paragraph: e / Sub-Paragraph: v / Line: 1) 12/05/2022 Relating to the Fractionated Morse Cipher, will it always end with the last letter or will there be an xx at the end to mark the end of the word? No. For a Fractionated Morse Cipher, the cipher can end with 0, 1 or 2 X at the end depending on how many are needed to pad to a group of 3 symbols. (Section: 3 / Paragraph: g / Sub-Paragraph: iii / Line: 1) 12/27/2022 Science Olympiad rules do not define Rail Fence. ACA rules allow encryption to be either writing into the railfence pattern on the zigzag and reading off on rows, or writing into the pattern on rows and reading off on the zigzag. Are both encrypti... No. Only the pattern where the cipher text is written in rows and the plaintext is read through the zigzag is allowed. For example with the cipher text RFEALECIN would be written into three rows of 'R F E' ' A L E C ' and ' I N ' and would be read out via zigzag as RAILFENCE. (Section: 2 / Line: 1) 03/08/2023 This year the Vigenère table isn't being provided, however Division B will still have Caesar ciphers. Will the shift be limited to a certain range of possible shifts, or will the shift be specified in the questions? No. Caesar Ciphers for Division B can use the full shift range and the shift should not be specified in the question. (Section: 3 / Paragraph: e / Sub-Paragraph: v / Line: 1) 04/18/2023 Will the Fractionated Morse Cipher alphabet-to-symbol mapping be formatted as a keyword followed by the rest of the alphabet (similar to a K1 alphabet), or can it be shifted and/or random? The Fractionated Morse alphabet will be based on a keyword or key phrase alphabet similar to how a K1 alphabet is constricted without a shift. This means that the keyword or key phrase will be at the start such that the first letter will correspond to ... Experimental Design - Div B Fast Facts (Section: 3 / Paragraph: h / Line: 1) 02/07/2023 If a category asks for the name of a person, is their middle name needed? If not, is their middle initial needed? The middle name or middle initial would only be needed to distinguish them from another "known" individual with the same name. For example, Edward O Wilson, evolutionary biologist and Edward A Wilson, explorer and ornithologist (Section: 3 / Paragraph: f / Line: 1) 05/02/2023 If a correct response begins with a number, will the 1st letter of the first letter-containing word be used? Rule 3.f. would be followed in this case and the number would be treated as an article, therefore the first letter of the word following the number would be used. (Section: 4 / Sub-Paragraph: a / Line: 1) 02/03/2023 The rule states number of points depends on number of correct terms. If a student writes 2 correct terms for one grid, that is for "C/Element", the student writes both Chromium and Cadmium, will they get 1 pt or 4 pts? Only the first term provided (e.g., the one at the top of the box, the first one in a line) will be evaluated. Any additional terms, whether correct or incorrect, will not be scored. (Section: 3 / Paragraph: h / Line: 2) 12/02/2022 The rules state that only the first letter of a scientist's last name will be counted, and gives Marie Curie as an example, counting for "C". However, her correct name was Marie Skłodowska–Curie. Would this also be accepted (as an entry for S)? Yes that would count if the letter was S, however they would not be able to use her for both S and C in the same grid. Write It Do It - Div B ‹ While preparing the NJ State test, I discovered that there are two things named VERITAS, and they are quite different. One is a ground-based observatory in Arizona that uses gamma-ray instruments. https://veritas.sao.arizona.edu/ The second is a N... Codebusters ›
