Editing Semester A Progress Report 2012 (section)

====The Code====
Around the time of the inquest, a tiny piece of paper was found deep in a fob pocket sewn withing the dead man's trouser pocket. On it was printed the words "Tamam Shud", and public library offcials called in identified it as meaning "ended" or "finished", found on the last page of a book called The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. A nation-wide search was then conducted to find a matching copy of the book, but this was unsuccessful until a man revealed he had found a rare first edition copy of the translation by Edward FitzGerald on the backseat of his unlocked car on Jetty Road the night of the Somerton Man's death. This copy was missing the Tamam Shud on the last page, and microscopic tests indicated that the piece of paper found on the body was torn from this book.
In the back of the book were found faint pencil markings of five lines of capital letters, with the second line crossed out. This line's similarity to the fourth indicates a mistake was made, and adds to the likelihood the lines are a code.

WRGOABABD

MLIAOI

WTBIMPANETP

MLIABOAIAQC

ITTMTSAMSTGAB

However there is some debate over several of the letters: It is unclear whether the first and third lines begin with an `M' or a `W'; the struck-through second line could be an attempt to underline; and the `I' of the last line could possibly be a very narrow `V'.
Code experts brought in to analyse the lines in 1978 concluded:
* There are insufficient symbols to provide a pattern
* The symbols could be a complex substitute code or the meaningless response to a disturbed mind
* It is not possible to provide a satisfactory answer
Our aim is to provide more conclusive answers than these, through the power of modern technology and the vast swathes of data available on the World Wide Web.