Description
An error-detecting block code that appends to a message a shorter string, called a checksum, that is computed from the message.Protection
The checksum can be recalculated from the received message and compared with the appended checksum in order to detect certain transmission or storage errors.Member of code lists
Primary Hierarchy
Parents
Checksum code
Children
The last digit of an ISBN-10 string is a check digit computed modulo 11 [1].
The \(q\)-ary parity check code is a simple example of a checksum code, with the parity of the message being the checksum.
The last digit of a UPC barcode is a base-10 check digit computed modulo 10 from an alternating weighted sum of the preceding digits [2].
References
- [1]
- R. Hill, A First Course in Coding Theory (Oxford University Press, 1988)
- [2]
- D. Savir and G. J. Laurer, “The characteristics and decodability of the Universal Product Code symbol”, IBM Systems Journal 14, 16 (1975) DOI
Page edit log
- Victor V. Albert (2025-11-17) — most recent
Cite as:
“Checksum code”, The Error Correction Zoo (V. V. Albert & P. Faist, eds.), 2025. https://errorcorrectionzoo.org/c/checksum