55-502427 | Linear and Discrete Mathematics Assignment 3 | 2017-18

Assignment 3

This assignment must be submitted in paper form to the Sheaf Reception Desk on or before
3:00pm, Monday 19th March 2018. In line with university regulations, if you submit your
work up to 24 hours after this deadline you will receive a mark capped at 40%.
Your attention is drawn to the University’s policy on cheating. Answers to this assignment must
be individual work – any evidence suggesting the possibility of either plagiarism or collusion will
be investigated.

Instructions
You should attempt all of the questions. Each question contributes 30% of the marks for this
assignment, and a total of 10% of the marks will be awarded for presentation and professionalism
(following the directions below).
Your submitted work should be presented legibly and neatly on good quality paper, at least as
good as that in the SHU printers in the Maths Hub, and not damaged in any way. Your submitted
work should have the official front sheet stapled at the front. Below that should be a copy of this
question paper (printed double sided), again in good condition, and below that should be your
work.
To make it easier to mark, please start a new page for each question. Use either plain or lined
paper and include a margin on the left hand side of each page. Your complete set of pages should
be stapled in the top-left hand corner with the actual staple being positioned so as not to obscure
any of your work. Please do not use plastic wallets, or other covers.

Questions
1. (a) Show that the polynomial p(x) = x2 + x + 1 is irreducible over the field GF (2).

(b) Show that if α is a root of p(x) = 0 then α is a generator of the extended field GF (4),
listing all members of GF (4) in doing so.

(c) Let β = α + 1. Relist the members of GF (4) in terms of α and β, and draw up two
tables for the set {0, 1, α, β}, one for addition and one for multiplication, showing all
your working.

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55-502427 | Linear and Discrete Mathematics Assignment 3 | 2017-18

(d) To send a message over a noisy channel, the decoding matrix

 
1 1 1 1 1
1 α β 0 1

is used so that any valid string is in the kernel of this matrix. Determine the coding
matrix, explaining briefly how you obtained it.

2. To send a message using the coding matrix in the previous question, each letter of the
alphabet is encoded as follows: First represent the letter in 3-bit mod 4, so that

A = 000, B = 001, C = 002, . . . , Z = 121, space = 122,

and then replace each occurrence of the digit ‘2’ with α and each occurrence of the digit ‘3’
with β. Then add check digits so that the resulting string of five digits is in the kernel of the
decoding matrix.

(a) What is the minimum Hamming distance between valid strings once the check digits
have be added? Give your reasoning.

(b) Encode the start of your name as follows:

Write down your given (first) name ignoring any spaces and/or punctuation. Cross out
the second and any subsequent occurrence of any letter (so that there are no repeated
letters) and take the first five letters of what remains. If you have fewer than five letters
remaining, use your surname as well. For example, if your name was Isaac Newton, this
would be ISACN.

Encode these five letters using the encoding scheme outlined above to produce a 25-digit
transmission.

3. Decode the following message, correcting errors where necessary. Note that the decoded
message should be a real English word. You are expected to use a proper, systematic method
rather than trial and error. Show your working / reasoning.

10αβ1 01β01 0ββ01 1βββ0 0α0β1 1α0ββ

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