[bksvol-discuss] Everything You Wanted to Know About ISBN...
- From: "Deborah Murray" <blinkeeblink@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2011 16:55:30 -0500
This subject is one of those that keeps coming up. Here is a message g.
Cindy sent to the list quite a while ago...
Deborah
-----Original Message-----
From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Cindy
Sent: Thursday, August 31, 2006 3:34 AM
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] everything you want to know about ISBN numbers and
more
I googled and found the following:
http://www.isbn.org/standards/home/isbn/us/isbnqa.asp#Q5
Why do some ISBNs end in an "X"?
In the case of the check digit, the last digit of the ISBN, the upper
case X can appear. The method of determining the check digit for the ISBN is
the modulus 11 with the weighting factors 10 to 1. The Roman numeral X is
used in lieu of 10 where ten would occur as a check digit."
WWhat you may ask, is a check digit. (At least I wanted to know.) I found a
simple definition after a
while: The source below not only explains what a check digit is, but
discusses several different kinds besides ISBN check digits.
http://www.augustana.ab.ca/~mohrj/algorithms/checkdigit.html
"Check Digit
A decimal (or alphanumeric) digit added to a number for the purpose of
detecting the sorts of errors humans typically make on data entry.
When human beings use numbers - whether keying them into computers, dialing
them on telephones, or reading them and telling them to others --- they tend
to make certain kinds of mistakes more often than others.
According to Richard Hamming (Coding and Information Theory, 2e,
Prentice-Hall, 1986, p. 27), the two most common human errors are:
* Interchanging adjacent digits of numbers:
67 becomes 76
* Doubling the wrong one of a triple of digits, two adjacent ones of
which are the same:
667 becomes 677"
A couple of sources explain how the ISBN check digit is arrived at. Jake
and probably other mathematicians would possibly understand it--it seems to
have to do with adding the digits in the ISBN number and dividing by 11.
Here's a URL if you want to read more about it.
(I'm more into words than numbers--I gave up quickly on trying to solve even
the easiest Siduko so I wona't give the explanation here. You can look it up
yourself.) smile)
http://www.cs.queensu.ca/~bradbury/checkdigit/isbncheck.htm
or a fuller explanation of why and what the parts of an ISBN number stand
for, read this:
http://www.isbn.org/standards/home/isbn/us/isbnqa.asp
What is an ISBN?
The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a 10-digit number that
uniquely identifies books and book-like products published internationally.
What is the purpose of an ISBN?
The purpose of the ISBN is to establish and identify one title or
edition of a title from one specific publisher and is unique to that
edition, allowing for more efficient marketing of products by booksellers,
libraries, universities, wholesalers and distributors.
What is the format of the ISBN?
Every ISBN consists of ten digits and whenever it is printed it is
preceded by the letters ISBN. The ten-digit number is divided into four
parts of variable length, each part separated by a hyphen.
Does the ISBN have any meaning imbedded in the numbers?
The four parts of an ISBN are as follows:
Group or country identifier which identifies a national or geographic
grouping of publishers;
Publisher identifier which identifies a particular publisher within a
group;
Title identifier which identifies a particular title or edition of a
title;
Check digit is the single digit at the end of the ISBN which validates
the ISBN."
"Does the ISBN have any meaning imbedded in the numbers?
The four parts of an ISBN are as follows:
Group or country identifier which identifies a national or geographic
grouping of publishers;
Publisher identifier which identifies a particular publisher within a
group;
Title identifier which identifies a particular title or edition of a
title;
Check digit is the single digit at the end of the ISBN which validates
the ISBN."
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