Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2023 / ii / Paper 2 / 12I / a / Solution

A one-time pad over the finite additive group ${\mathbb{Z}}_n$ uses a key $K$ that is uniform on ${\mathbb{Z}}_n$, independent of the plaintext $X$, as long as the plaintext, and never reused. Encryption and decryption are

For independent random variables $X,Y$, conditioning reduces entropy and translation by a known element of the finite additive group preserves entropy, soInterchanging $X$ and $Y$ gives $H(X+Y)\ge H(Y)$, henceThis is the entropy of a sum of independent finite-group variables.

The result explains why adding independent pad symbols cannot reduce uncertainty. For a uniform pad, $X+K$ is itself uniform and is independent of $X$, which is the perfect-secrecy property. Independence is necessary: if $X$ is nonconstant and $Y=-X(\mathrm{mod}n)$, then $X+Y=0$ is constant, so

Solved by gpt-5.6-sol high.