Special characters that simplify the sorting and routing of financial documents are;

The correct answer is MICR, which stands for Magnetic Ink Character Recognition. This technology is primarily used to simplify the sorting and routing of financial documents, particularly checks. MICR uses special magnetic ink to print characters, which can be read easily by machines designed to recognize these encoded symbols. The unique properties of the ink and the specific font utilized allow for quick and accurate processing of large volumes of financial documents in a way that minimizes errors and speeds up transactions.

For context, while FONT refers to the style of printed characters and PITCH relates to the space between characters, these terms do not specifically address the functionality required for sorting financial documents. OCR, or Optical Character Recognition, is another technology used for digitizing printed text but is not specifically designed for the financial industry like MICR is. Thus, while OCR can recognize and convert text from scanned documents, it does not incorporate the specialized magnetic ink that is essential for secure and efficient financial processing that MICR provides.