What does Ciphering mean

Question

I want to know what it's definition is and what they use it for

Answer 1

In cryptography, a cipher is an algorithm for encryption and decryption of information.

 

Example:  Suppose you want to encrypt the word "secret".  A very simple algorithm could be to replace each letter with a 2 digit number, where the number is the position in the alphabet increased by 3.

 

s = 19 + 3 = 22

e = 5 + 3 = 08

c = 3 + 3 = 06

r = 18 + 3 = 21

t = 20 + 3 = 23

 

Then the word "secret" is encrypted and transmitted as 220806210823.  To decrypt, invert the process.  Of course, this is an easy cipher to break.  Real world ciphers entail more complicated algorithms.