Barcodes. Why do barcodes have the thick and thin lines and numbers on them. Also, why are lasers used to scan them?
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What you are describing sounds like an EAN barcode which is standard for identifying products in the global retail business. Each product gets a unique number so that the sales system can tally up the total, print a correct receipt, and keep track of how many remaining items is in the store.
The barcode is made to be easily read by machines even in low lighting, out of focus cameras, partially visible or if printed badly. To do this each digit is converted to two lines. The width of the lines and the space between them depend on the digit. The scanner will compare the width of the lines to decode the digit. The “laser” is used to illuminate the barcode and give the user a guide to where the scanning area is. The scanner uses a digital camera specially designed for this kind of work and software will identify the barcode.
The numbers that are printed is a failsafe. If the barcode is really bad then the scanner may not be able to read it at all. But a human are much better at reading the numbers then the scanner. So you can manually enter the number into the system. Next time you are at a self service checkout look for the manual barcode entry field.
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