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I'm a math major in college and its mostly theoretical like analysis, etc. and I have been interested in the idea of cryptography, so naturally I'm interested in possibly studying up on it a litle bit on my own. So I was wondering firstly, what kind of prerequisites should one have before embarking on self studying the subject? Then secondly what are good introductory textbooks for the subject? Appologies if this isn't the best place to ask.

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We generally consider this type of question as off-topic here as there is no correct answer. Search around on the site though and similar questions have been asked, answered, then closed. The answers should give some help. – mikeazo♦ Feb 21 at 2:02
@mikeazo That's fine, I understand, but do you mind if I ask why you consider it off topic? The math se accepts these kinds of questions all the time. It seems like a rather strict rule here when other se sites allow this kind of question. – user5080 Feb 21 at 2:30
You'll have to look at those two meta posts. That was decided before my time on here. I think the basic idea was that 1) there is no "correct" answer and 2) list question answers often get mega-up-voted and become the "best" answers on the site and there was some worry about this. – mikeazo♦ Feb 21 at 12:21

closed as off topic by mikeazo♦ Feb 21 at 2:02

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1 Answer

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A good background of abstract algebra, number theory, group theory will immensely help but is not completely required. Some students are sometimes discouraged when they first start, so I would suggest not going immediately into a rigorous book. Rather, look at some of the online courses in crypto (coursera, udacity, etc.). After the intro, you should easily be able to find some books (Schreiner, etc are usually some that come to mind).

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Thanks for the heads up, I'm on track to take an abstract algebra course down the road. What makes students discouraged about it? Just for a heads up. – user5080 Feb 21 at 0:26
Challenging proofs. – montreux Feb 21 at 0:40
Ah I see, well math analysis hasnt broken my spirit so far, but I will keep that in mind. Thanks! – user5080 Feb 21 at 0:59

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