Mathematics · Question
Which of these numbers is closest to the total number of possible states for an army standard Enigma Machine?
Answer
1.58 x 10^20
The story behind the answer
1.58 × 10^20 is closest because the Army/Air Force three-rotor Enigma had about 60 rotor orders (choose and arrange 3 of 5), 26^3 = 17,576 ring settings, and roughly 1.507 × 10^14 plugboard wirings (10 letter pairs). Multiplying: 60 × 17,576 × 1.507 × 10^14 ≈ 1.589 × 10^20 possible daily keys.
Despite this staggering 158-quintillion keyspace, Bletchley Park cracked Enigma by exploiting operator habits and “cribs,” with Bombes pruning the search intelligently. Memory hook: “5–3–10 and 26” — 5 rotors choose 3, 10 plugboard pairs, and 26-letter rings together give about 1.58 × 10^20.