16.5, due on December 11

1. Difficult: I don't understand how (k^-1)kA=(t+tn) and then nA=infinity. Just to much assuming for me to follow.

2. Reflective: It is nice to see how this can be related and slightly modified to fit stuff we previously learned.

16.4, due on December 9

1. Difficult: I had difficulty following the addition in the finite field worked on elliptical curves.

2. Reflective: It's interesting to see how everything even elliptical curves lead to using mod 2 because that is what works on computers the best.

16.3, due on December 6

1. Difficult: I was confused on how the factorial with the P actually worked. I didn't know why the factorial came into place.

2. Reflective: I really like how its comparing what we are learning to do now to what we learned so far this semester when it comes to factoring.

16.2, due on December 4

1. Difficult: I was confused on how discrete logs relate to elliptic curves. I couldn't quite make the connection there.

2. Reflective: I did like that it talked about the same attacks we used on normal discrete logs on elliptic curves and how it just is slightly modified. It makes it nice that we don't have to learn a bunch of new tests.

16.1, due on December 2

1. Difficult: I found almost all of this section difficult. I don't know if I have ever actually studied elliptic curves and if I have I don't remember. It really lost me when it started talking about the points on a line and how to find equations and I just couldn't follow the math in the book.

2. Reflective: Like I said above I have never really done anything with elliptic curves so I don't know how to relate this to anything. But it is confusing to follow so it sounds like something good to use in cryptography.

2.12, due on November 25

1. Difficult: I found it difficult how to follow how they exactly got the products of the cycles from just three simple words.

2. Reflective: I remember working with permutations and finding products of cycles in Abstract Algebra but I don't remember how we did it.

19.1-19.2, due on November 20

1. Difficult: I didn't really get the quantum mechanics. I understood it though the light example but did not understand once arrows and things started to be drawn and used as a key.

2. Reflective: Who would think to use quantum mechanics with cryptography? All I've ever heard is how hard quantum mechanics is but I guess that's what makes it effective in cryptography.