> [!tldr] A trick to see if the data you're looking at is (probably) right. A checksum is a small additional piece of info you can use to see if some large piece of data is accurate (i.e. it hasn't become corrupt in transmission, or it wasn't tampered with). Checksums are related heavily to [[Hash Table#Hashing Function|Hashing Functions]] in the [[Public Key Encryption|Cryptography]] world. ## Normal Person Example > Melissa: "Pick up 6 apples, 3 bananas, and 3 grapefruits" > Aaron: "One dozen fruits, got it" **** # More ## Source - college from a long time ago - XKCD Volume 0 (which technically makes this [[Relevant XKCD]]!)