Final answer:
An International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a unique identification number used to identify a book. It includes information about the publication region, publisher, and has error detection capabilities.
Step-by-step explanation:
An International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a unique identification number used to identify a book. The ISBN-10 format consists of 10 digits, while the ISBN-13 format consists of 13 digits. The ISBN includes information about the publication region and publisher, as well as error detection capability.
For example, 978-0-393-97950-3 is an ISBN-13 for a print book. The first three digits, 978, represent the publication region, while the next digit, 0, indicates the publisher. The following digits identify the specific book.
To determine the validity of an ISBN-10 or ISBN-13, you can use the provided error detection mechanism. For ISBN-10, the last digit is a check digit calculated based on the first nine digits. For ISBN-13, the last digit is also a check digit calculated based on the preceding 12 digits.