WOLFRAM|DEMONSTRATIONS PROJECT

Letter Highlighting in Text

​
letter
"o"
N
o
w, in English, the letter which m
o
st frequently
o
ccurs is e. Afterward, the successi
o
n runs thus: a
o
i d h n r s t u y c f g l m w b k p q x z. E pred
o
minates s
o
remarkably, that an individual sentence
o
f any length is rarely seen, in which it is n
o
t the prevailing character.​​​​Here, then, we have, in the very beginning, the gr
o
undw
o
rk f
o
r s
o
mething m
o
re than a mere guess. The general use which may be made
o
f the table is
o
bvi
o
us — but, in this particular cipher, we shall
o
nly very partially require its aid. As
o
ur pred
o
minant character is 8, we will c
o
mmence by assuming it as the e
o
f the natural alphabet. T
o
verify the supp
o
siti
o
n, let us
o
bserve if the 8 be seen
o
ften in c
o
uples — f
o
r e is d
o
ubled with great frequency in English — in such w
o
rds, f
o
r example, as meet, fleet, speed, seen, been, agree, etc. In the present instance we see it d
o
ubled n
o
less than five times, alth
o
ugh the crypt
o
graph is brief.​​​​Let us assume 8, then, as e. N
o
w,
o
f all w
o
rds in the language, 'the' is m
o
st usual; let us see, theref
o
re, whether there are n
o
t repetiti
o
ns
o
f any three characters, in the same
o
rder
o
f c
o
ll
o
cati
o
n, the last
o
f them being 8. If we disc
o
ver a repetiti
o
n
o
f such letters, s
o
arranged, they will m
o
st pr
o
bably represent the w
o
rd 'the.' Up
o
n inspecti
o
n, we find n
o
less than seven such arrangements...
Move the slider to highlight different letters in this passage from Edgar Allen Poe's "The Gold Bug." Note that the sequence of letters that Poe gives is incorrect, as proven by modern textual analysis. The most common letter in English prose after e is actually t, followed by a, etc..