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Chapter 16: Check Digits: Money Orders

This document describes various check digit schemes used to validate identification numbers, including those used for money orders, airline tickets, universal product codes, bank routing numbers, Codabar, and ISBN numbers. It provides examples of applying each scheme to determine valid or invalid numbers and detect errors like substitution or transposition of digits. Sample problems are included with the correct solutions provided at the end.

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Sooraj Rajmohan
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224 views2 pages

Chapter 16: Check Digits: Money Orders

This document describes various check digit schemes used to validate identification numbers, including those used for money orders, airline tickets, universal product codes, bank routing numbers, Codabar, and ISBN numbers. It provides examples of applying each scheme to determine valid or invalid numbers and detect errors like substitution or transposition of digits. Sample problems are included with the correct solutions provided at the end.

Uploaded by

Sooraj Rajmohan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Math for Liberal Studies – Fall 2007 Dr.

Hamblin

Chapter 16: Check Digits


On this worksheet, several of the check-digit schemes we have discussed in class are described. Practice
using these schemes to answer the questions below.

Money Orders
There are 10 digits plus a check digit. Add up the digits in the ID number. The check digit is the
remainder when this sum is divided by 9.

1. Suppose that a money order has ID number 1012065994, where  indicates the last digit
has been lost. What should the last digit be?

2. Suppose that a money order has ID number 7198164036. Can you determine the missing
digit?

Airline Tickets
There are 10 digits plus a check digit. Divide the ID number by 7. The check digit is the remainder.

3. Is the number 10540897012 a legitimate airline ticket number?

Universal Product Code (UPC)


There are 11 digits plus a check digit. Use the weights 3, 1, 3, 1, 3, 1, … , on all of the digits of the ID
number, including the check digit, to create a weighted sum. The check digit is the digit needed to
create a sum that ends in 0.

4. Determine the check digit that should be appended to the UPC 0-14300-25433.

5. Find an object that has a UPC on it and verify that it is valid.

6. Commit a substitution error with your object’s code and show that the UPC check digit scheme
detects the error.

7. Commit a transposition error with your object’s code. Does the UPC check digit scheme detect
this error?

Bank Routing Numbers


There are 8 digits plus a check digit. Use the weights 7, 3, 9, 7, 3, 9, 7, 3 on the eight-digit ID number to
create a weighted sum. The check digit is the last digit of this sum.

8. Determine the check digit that should be appended to the bank routing number 01500085.

9. A suspicious check has routing number 198102957. Is the routing number valid?
Math for Liberal Studies – Fall 2007 Dr. Hamblin

Codabar
There are 15 digits plus a check digit. Add the digits in positions 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, and 15 and double
the result. Next, count the number of digits in positions 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, and 15 that exceed 4 and
add this to the total. Now add the remaining digits. The check digit is whatever is needed to bring the
final tally to a number that ends in a 0.

10. Use the Codabar scheme to determine the check digit for the number 300125600196431.

11. Determine whether the Master Card number 3541 0232 0033 2270 is valid.

International Standard Book Number (ISBN)


There are 10 digits including the check digit. Use the weights 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 on all of the digits
of the ISBN, including the check digit. The check digit should be chosen so that the weighted sum is
evenly divisible by 11. If the digit would need to be 10, then “X” is used instead.

12. Suppose that the ISBN 0-1750-3549-0 is incorrectly reported as 0-1750-3540-0. Is this error
detected by the ISBN check digit scheme?

13. Suppose that you know that the ISBN 0-6690-3925-4 is the result of the transposition of two
adjacent digits, but not involving the first or last digits. Can you determine the correct ISBN?

Solutions
1. 1

2. 3

3. No, the check digit should be 0

4. 9

5. Answers vary

6. Answers vary

7. Answers vary

8. 9

9. No, the check digit should be 9

10. 2

11. Yes

12. Yes

13. 0-6690-9325-4

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