@mikeazo Thank you, this is very helpful.

@Mathematica, e=3 doesn't necessarily mean that decryption is easy, see crypto.stackexchange.com/questions/8454/…

Also, I would recommend spending some time researching RSA (or whatever you choose as the topic) before you decide on your research questions.

I've got a kind of 'fun'(?) question that I thought would be good for crypto, but after checking the on-topic FAQ before posting, I'm certain it would fall foul of Can I get data analysed here? Specifically I'm trying to figure out how the 14-character alphanumeric passwords for Wonderboy III: The Dragon's Trap for the 8-bit Sega Master System translate into in-game stats. I've got a bunch of examples and breakdown, but I guess that doesn't make a difference?

^ I considered posting it on Puzzling, but despite no specific on-topic rules, that seems to be primary 'I have a fun puzzle that I already know the answer to'.

@indextwo, yeah, that would likely be off topic here, unless you can cast it in terms that make it generally useful.

Puzzling does seem to accept questions that you don't know the answer to: meta.puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/2930/…

I'm not sure if they'll consider your question a puzzle or not, but doesn't hurt to ask there.

@mikeazo Heh, guess that proves there are no ethics in bitcoin science anymore… ;)

@otus It definitely wouldn't be useful - it was more interesting for the sake of itself. When I played it as a kid, I always thought it used some kind of RAM or lithium-ion battery for saving my game progress, but having found a Flash-based ROM emulator online, it's clear that the password functionality is more like "Yeah, your stats were something like this." - which made me interested in figuring it out.

@otus But thanks for the clarification - I may try it on Puzzling.