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When the Zodiac Killer mailed the "Little List" letter on July 26th 1970 he pretty much gave us the full solution to the Z32 by writing "P.S. The Mt. Diablo code concerns Radians + # inches along the radians". The solution contained "radians" and "inches", and all we had to do was precede each with a number, giving us the answer of "four radians and five inches". The location of his claimed bomb was never going to land on a round number, so the solution was just an estimate, giving us the complete answer of "estimate: four radians and five inches" (supplied by Andrew Gray). That is really all there is to it.
In the "Button" letter mailed on June 26th 1970 the Zodiac Killer wrote "the map coupled with the code will tell you where the bomb is set". We have the code answer of "four radians and five inches", but we needed to couple it with the map "set to magnetic north" of 17 degrees in 1970. That is 4 X 57.3 degrees (one radian) + 17 degrees = 246.2 degrees. Therefore, the bomb was claimed to be set at 246.2 degrees from Mount Diablo (which was an estimate). The actual target was Ingleside Police Department by the Southern Freeway, which was positioned at 251 degrees The margin of error over a 360 degree circle was just 1.3%. That is pretty damn accurate. The crosshairs with the bold, black circle on the "Little List" letter was set to 246.2 degrees and had SFPD aligned next to it, so it's clear that the target was a police station.
In the "Button" letter mailed on June 26th 1970 the Zodiac Killer wrote "the map coupled with the code will tell you where the bomb is set". We have the code answer of "four radians and five inches", but we needed to couple it with the map "set to magnetic north" of 17 degrees in 1970. That is 4 X 57.3 degrees (one radian) + 17 degrees = 246.2 degrees. Therefore, the bomb was claimed to be set at 246.2 degrees from Mount Diablo (which was an estimate). The actual target was Ingleside Police Department by the Southern Freeway, which was positioned at 251 degrees The margin of error over a 360 degree circle was just 1.3%. That is pretty damn accurate. The crosshairs with the bold, black circle on the "Little List" letter was set to 246.2 degrees and had SFPD aligned next to it, so it's clear that the target was a police station.
The repeating ciphertext characters are now satisfied, but do we really believe that the extremely clever Zodiac Killer added the remaining 26 ciphertext characters by using random letters and symbols that meant absolutely nothing? The solution thus far gave us 246.2 degrees (which was an estimate), but what was the real value in degrees to pinpoint the exact target? What can we possibly do with 32 characters, of which 29 are unique? If you are approaching this based on techniques employed in the 340 and 408 ciphers, then the answer is absolutely nothing. Therefore, it's fairly obvious that the Zodiac Killer used a different approach. A simplistic approach as old as time. However, the only clues we had was "P.S. The Mt. Diablo code concerns Radians + # inches along the radians" and "the map coupled with the code will tell you where the bomb is set". We have already explained both of these messages from the Zodiac Killer, so one of them must have a double meaning with respect to finding the exact location the Zodiac Killer was claiming for his bomb.
If we look at the message in blue, we already have the "map" element of "17 degrees magnetic north" (as mentioned above), so did the Zodiac "couple" this with something other than four radians in the "code", to give us the remaining degrees and pinpoint the exact location of the proposed bomb. The only way to attempt this, is by attributing number values to the alphabetical letters (correctly aligned), of which there are 20 in the code. For example A=1, B=2, C=3, etc. What are the chances that these alphabetical letters would add up to 234 in the "code", to be "coupled" with 17 degrees from the "map", and give us 251 degrees to identify the exact location of the Ingleside Police Department (SFPD) from Mount Diablo? They did.
If we look at the message in blue, we already have the "map" element of "17 degrees magnetic north" (as mentioned above), so did the Zodiac "couple" this with something other than four radians in the "code", to give us the remaining degrees and pinpoint the exact location of the proposed bomb. The only way to attempt this, is by attributing number values to the alphabetical letters (correctly aligned), of which there are 20 in the code. For example A=1, B=2, C=3, etc. What are the chances that these alphabetical letters would add up to 234 in the "code", to be "coupled" with 17 degrees from the "map", and give us 251 degrees to identify the exact location of the Ingleside Police Department (SFPD) from Mount Diablo? They did.
We have "four radians" in the code (229. 2 degrees) coupled with the map of 17 degrees magnetic north = 246.2 (estimate).
We also have 234 degrees in the code, coupled with the map of 17 degrees magnetic north = 251 (the exact target location).
The idea that the Zodiac Killer gave us 29 different characters in the Z32 with seemingly no hope of a solution, should be flipped on its head. In other words, the fact that he deliberately engineered such an impossible code with no chance of a resolution, meant that there probably was one. I expect that he thoroughly enjoyed the notion of a "crackproof" code, when in fact, the solution was anything but. If you look too deep into a problem, you will often overlook the shallow.
ADDITIONAL READING: THE ANSWER TO THE MOUNT DIABLO CODE
We also have 234 degrees in the code, coupled with the map of 17 degrees magnetic north = 251 (the exact target location).
The idea that the Zodiac Killer gave us 29 different characters in the Z32 with seemingly no hope of a solution, should be flipped on its head. In other words, the fact that he deliberately engineered such an impossible code with no chance of a resolution, meant that there probably was one. I expect that he thoroughly enjoyed the notion of a "crackproof" code, when in fact, the solution was anything but. If you look too deep into a problem, you will often overlook the shallow.
ADDITIONAL READING: THE ANSWER TO THE MOUNT DIABLO CODE
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