Final answer:
The student's question is about writing a Python program to validate nine-digit Canadian Social Insurance Numbers by calculating and verifying the check digit. The process includes specific steps to manipulate the digits, sum them, and perform a final calculation to determine if the SIN is valid.
Step-by-step explanation:
The task is to create a Python program to validate Canadian Social Insurance Numbers (SIN). The SIN validation process involves manipulating the digits according to a set of rules and checking if the final digit (the check digit) is correct. To write the program, one must follow these steps: double certain digits, sum their individual digits if needed, add certain sets of digits together, and perform a subtraction to find the expected check digit.
If you need to create a program like this, remember to handle each digit separately and to apply the rules exactly as described for the correct outcome. The provided steps align with standard programming exercises in manipulating and validating numbers.
Below is an example of how the program logic might look in Python (this is just a logic example, not a complete program):
- Convert the SIN to a list of digits
- Apply the doubling and summing of digits where necessary
- Sum the required digits
- Calculate the check digit
- Compare with the last digit of the SIN
A valid program would repeat the process, checking each SIN number entered, and stop when the sentinel value '999999999' is input.