Can you solve it? Take the Ada Lovelace challenge

We've channelled the spirit of the mathematician, writer and daughter of Byron in order to set a riddle for Guardian readers

Hello guzzlers,

I have a special treat for you today: a letter from the nineteenth century mathematician, Countess Ada Lovelace. The letter comes through the medium of Pavel Curtis, who every month for the last few years has been releasing similar puzzles from Ada that he calls Adalogical AEnigmas. Pavel, who has a day job as a software architect at Microsoft, is a legend in the puzzle community. He composed - I mean channelled - today's puzzle for Guardian readers. Enjoy!