2003 Top Ten of Polemic for Mathematics

Linear cryptanalysis: In cryptography, linear cryptanalysis is a general form of cryptanalysis based on finding affine approximations to the action of a cipher. Attacks have been developed for block ciphers and stream ciphers. Linear cryptanalysis is one of the two most widely used attacks on block ciphers; the other being differential cryptanalysis
Scytale: In cryptography, a scytale is a tool used to perform a transposition cipher, consisting of a cylinder with a strip of parchment wound around it on which is written a message. The ancient Greeks, and the Spartans in particular, are said to have used this cipher to communicate during military campaigns
Quantization (physics): In physics, quantization is the systematic transition procedure from a classical understanding of physical phenomena to a newer understanding known as quantum mechanics. It is a procedure for constructing quantum mechanics from classical mechanics. A generalization involving infinite degrees of freedom is field quantization, as in the "quantization of the electromagnetic field", referring to photons as field "quanta". This procedure is basic to theories of atomic physics, chemistry, particle physics
Independence (probability theory): Independence is a fundamental notion in probability theory, as in statistics and the theory of stochastic processes
Index of coincidence: In cryptography, coincidence counting is the technique of putting two texts side-by-side and counting the number of times that identical letters appear in the same position in both texts. This count, either as a ratio of the total or normalized by dividing by the expected count for a random source model, is known as the index of coincidence, or IC for short
Gauss–Markov theorem: In statistics, the Gauss–Markov theorem states that the ordinary least squares (OLS) estimator has the lowest sampling variance within the class of linear unbiased estimators, if the errors in the linear regression model are uncorrelated, have equal variances and expectation value of zero. The errors do not need to be normal, nor do they need to be independent and identically distributed. The requirement that the estimator be unbiased cannot be dropped, since biased estimators exist with lower variance
Cryptographically-secure pseudorandom number generator: A cryptographically secure pseudorandom number generator (CSPRNG) or cryptographic pseudorandom number generator (CPRNG) is a pseudorandom number generator (PRNG) with properties that make it suitable for use in cryptography. It is also loosely known as a cryptographic random number generator (CRNG
Chebyshev polynomials: The Chebyshev polynomials are two sequences of polynomials related to the cosine and sine functions, notated as and . They can be defined in several equivalent ways; in this article the polynomials are defined by starting with trigonometric functions:The Chebyshev polynomials of the first kind are given by Similarly, define the Chebyshev polynomials of the second kind as
Counterfactual definiteness: In quantum mechanics, counterfactual definiteness (CFD) is the ability to speak "meaningfully" of the definiteness of the results of measurements that have not been performed. The term "counterfactual definiteness" is used in discussions of physics calculations, especially those related to the phenomenon called quantum entanglement and those related to the Bell inequalities. In such discussions "meaningfully" means the ability to treat these unmeasured results on an equal footing with measured results in
Mathematics: Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes such topics as numbers, formulas and related structures (algebra), shapes and the spaces in which they are contained (geometry), and quantities and their changes. There is no general consensus about its exact scope or epistemological status