Business Paradigms, Inc.
By: R. Scott White
Most people perform this tedious task by dividing their cheques into series of ten - cheques 120 to 129, 130 to 139, and so forth. Then they fan out each series of ten and start pulling out each cheque in order - 129, then 128, then 127, etc.
If you have a bank statement containing 500 cheques, this process can take an eternity. Here's a faster way.
1. Separate the cheques into groups of one hundred- 100 to 199, 200 to 299, 300 to 399, etc.
Lay them out on the desk in stacks:
100 to 199
200 to 299
300 to 399
2. Start with the highest numbered series. In our example it would be the 300 to 399 series.
3. Sort this group into ten stacks based only on the last digit of the cheque number as follows:
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
320 341 392 393 364 335 316 337 358 379
390 321 332 343 354 325 386 347 318 309
330 361 372 303 394 385 326 377 368 329
360 301 352 323 374 315 306 367 328 399
310 371 342 383 324 345 396 307 338 339
300 331 362 313 344 305 336 357 388 319
370 391 302 323 314 395 376 317 308 369
380 311 312 353 334 355 386 327 348 359
340 351 322 363 384 365 346 397 398 349
350 381 382 373 304 375 366 387 378 389
You should now have ten stacks of cheques. The first stack contains all the cheques whose last digit is 0 and the last stack contains all the cheques whose last digit is 9.
4. Now pick up the cheques from left to right. Start with the stack ending in 0. On top of that, put the stack ending in 1. Then 2, then 3, etc. When you're finished, all the 9's should be on top of the stack.
5. Next, lay them out again based on the 10's digit (second from the right). The ten stacks will end up like the example below. If you look at at 0's stack, you'll notice that the first cheque you laid down was 309. The last cheque you put on that stack was 300. The cheques are now in order from top to bottom.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
309 319 329 339 349 359 369 379 389 399
308 318 328 338 348 358 368 378 388 398
307 317 327 337 347 357 367 377 387 397
305 315 325 335 345 355 365 375 385 395
304 314 324 334 344 354 364 374 384 394
303 313 323 333 343 353 363 373 383 393
301 311 321 331 341 351 361 371 381 391
300 310 320 330 340 350 360 370 380 390
6. Pick up the stacks from right to left, starting with the 9's. On top of that place the 8's and so forth. When you're finished, the entire stack of one hundred cheques will be in ascending order from cheque 300 to 399.
7. Do the same process for each of your series of 100 hundred cheques, and you're done.