Let’s start:- using mathematics to secure our money reading answers
READING PASSAGE 3
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40 which are based on Reading Passage 3 below.
Using Mathematics to Secure Our Money
A
Up until very recently people’s wealth, mostly coins and jewels, was kept safe under lock and key. Rich medieval families would keep a strongbox with a large key, both of which were carefully hidden in different places. later the box may have been kept in a bank. In either case, potential thieves would need to find both the box and the key. A similar principle was used for sending secret diplomatic and military messages. The messages were written in code with both the sender and the receiver having the key to the code. Thus, while the message could be discovered its meaning could only be found if the ‘key’ was also known. And so began a long-running battle between code-makers who tried to make better keys and code-breakers who sought ways of finding them.
B
Nowadays, cryptography is central to how our money is kept secure, even though we may not be aware of it. Our money is no longer in a tangible form, but in the form of information kept with our banks. To keep everyone involved happy, the messages initiated by our plastic cards have to be sent and received safely and the entire operation must be carried out with a high level of confidentiality and security.
C
On a practical level, it is clear that the work of code-makers has been introduced into our daily financial lives. Our credit cards have 16-digit numbers on the front and a 3-digit number on the back. They also contain a ‘chip’ that can do all sorts of mysterious operations with these numbers. Finally, we also have a Personal Identification Number which we all need to memorize. All these numbers form a type of cryptographic key. However, as we shall see, modern cryptosystems are very different in the way the keys are used.
D
The main feature of the traditional systems was that only one key was needed by both the sender and the receiver to understand the message. However, the main problem was that the key itself needed to be communicated to both parties before they could use it. Obviously a major security risk. A very different approach was developed in the 1970s, based on a different way of using the keys. Now the main idea is that the typical user, let us call him Amir, has two keys; a ‘public key’ and a ‘private key’. The public key is used to encrypt messages that other people wish to send to Amir, and the private key is used by Amir to decrypt these messages. The security of the system is based on keeping Amir’s private key secret.
E
This system of public-key cryptography, known as RSA- from the names of the developers (Ronald Rivest, Adi Shamir and Leonard Adleman) – was developed in the late 1970s and is based on a collection of several mathematical algorithms. The first is a process that allows the user, Amir, to calculate two numerical keys: private and public, based on two prime numbers. To complete the RSA system, two more algorithms are then needed: one for encrypting messages and one for decrypting them.
F
The effectiveness of RSA depends on two things. It is efficient, because the encryption and decryption algorithms used by participants are easy, in a technical sense they can be made precise. On the other hand, it is believed to be secure, because no one has found an easy way of decrypting the encrypted message without knowing Amir’s private key.
G
When the RSA system was first written about in Scientific American, the strength of the system was shown by challenging the readers to find the prime factors – the two original numbers – of a certain number with 129 digits. It took 17 years to solve this problem, using the combined efforts of over 600 people. So clearly it is a very secure system. Using mathematics in this way, scientists and technologists have enabled us to keep our money as secure as the rich medieval barons with their strong boxes and hidden keys.
Questions 27-32 (using mathematics to secure our money reading answers)
Reading Passage 3 has seven paragraphs, A-G.
Choose the correct heading for paragraphs B-G from the list of headings below.
Write the correct number, i-x, in boxes 27-32 on your answer sheet.
List of Headings
i The prevalence of numerical ‘codes’ in modern life
ii How RSA works
iii A brief history of keeping things safe
iv ‘New math’ vs ‘medieval math’
v Proof that RSA is effective
vi The illusion of security
vii Cryptography: the modern key for the lock
viii Why RSA is effective
ix In defence of medieval security systems
x A new approach to system security
Example Answer
Paragraph A iii
27 Paragraph B
28 Paragraph C
29 Paragraph D
30 Paragraph E
31 Paragraph F
32 Paragraph G
Questions 33-36
Complete the notes below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TO WORDS from the passage for each answer
Write your answers in boxes 33-36 on your answer sheet.
Through the use of cryptography, banks keep money 33 …………………………
The way credit cards work is an example of the influence of 34 ………………………..
Cryptosystems developed in the 1970s relied on 2 keys: the 35 ………………………… and
the 36 ……………………….
Questions 37-40
Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in Reading Passage 3?
In boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet, write
YES if the statement agrees with the views of the writer
NO if the statement contradicts the views of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
37 Online banking makes most people nervous
38 The way keys are used in modern cryptography is quite different from the past
39 The main problem with traditional cryptography systems is that neither party can decode the message.
40 The RSA system represents the most secure cryptography we are ever likely to develop.
Answers:- using mathematics to secure our money reading answers
Passage 3
27. vii
28. i
29. x
30. ii
31. viii
32. v
33. secure/safe
34. code markers
35. public
36. private key
37. NOT GIVEN
38. YES
39. NO
40. NOT GIVEN
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Er. Nachhattar Singh ( CEO, blogger, youtuber, Motivational speaker)
Like!! Great article post.Really thank you! Really Cool.
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