checksum

check·sum

C5273900 (chĕk′sŭm′)n. A numerical value calculated from a series of bits of digital data, often by summing their values, used to test whether the data has changed during storage or transmission.

check′sum′ v.

checksum

(ˈtʃɛkˌsʌm) na digit representing the number of bits of information transmitted, attached to the end of a message in order to verify the integrity of data

Thesaurus

Noun

checksum - a digit representing the sum of the digits in an instance of digital data; used to check whether errors have occurred in transmission or storageconfirmation, substantiation, verification, check - additional proof that something that was believed (some fact or hypothesis or theory) is correct; "fossils provided further confirmation of the evolutionary theory"

Translations

checksum

(storage, communications)A computed value which depends onthe contents of a block of data and which is transmitted orstored along with the data in order to detect corruption ofthe data. The receiving system recomputes the checksum basedupon the received data and compares this value with the onesent with the data. If the two values are the same, thereceiver has some confidence that the data was receivedcorrectly.

The checksum may be 8 bits (modulo 256 sum), 16, 32, or someother size. It is computed by summing the bytes or words ofthe data block ignoring overflow. The checksum may benegated so that the total of the data words plus the checksumis zero.

Internet packets use a 32-bit checksum.

See also digital signature, cyclic redundancy check.

checksum

A value used to ensure data are stored or transmitted without error. It is created by calculating the binary values in a block of data using some algorithm and storing the results with the data. When the data are retrieved from memory or received at the other end of a network, a new checksum is computed and matched against the existing checksum. A non-match indicates an error.

Just as a check digit tests the accuracy of a single number, a checksum tests a block of data. Checksums detect single bit errors and some multiple bit errors, but are not as effective as the CRC method. Checksums are also used by the Sophos antivirus software to determine if a file has changed since the last time it was scanned for a virus. See ECC memory and Sophos.

checksum

check·sum

checksum

checksum

checksum

checksum

checksum

Words related to checksum

noun a digit representing the sum of the digits in an instance of digital data

Related Words