The formula for checksum for the Kuwaiti Civil ID goes like this - 11 вЂ“ Mod(( c1 * 2 ) + ( c2 * 1 ) + ( c3 * 6 ) + ( c4 * 3 ) + ( c5 * 7 ) + The ISBN or the International Standard Book Number, which is an identification scheme used for books uses a very simple 10 digit checksum for the very same purpose. Checksums are quite common whenever numbers are being transmitted or stored.Д¬redit card number follow a famous checksum algorigthm called Luhn Check which was created by an IBM scientist - Peter Luhn. What?Д¬hecksums are simply an arbitary size of digital data that is meant for the purpose of detecting errors in storage or transmission of the original data.Д«y comparing the checksum of the original and the transmitted data checksums can be used to verify whether the transmitted data is indeed correct.

To our luck, we discovered that the Kuwaiti system uses a Checksum to validate for correctness. The app was supposed to be a mobile app and the Civil ID being a long 12 digit number, we were certain that typos would be quite common. Recently, we were building an application that required the user to enter his or her civil id. This is quite similar to how it works in all the countries, however, the process in Kuwait is protracted and quite laborious for expats.

The Kuwaiti Government assigns a unique identification number to each and every resident of Kuwait which is called the Civil ID.

ItвЂ™s been around 8 months since IвЂ™ve started working in Kuwait & I can still vividly remember the hoopla we had to go through in order to get our Civil IDs.

Caterpillar checksum calculator