Collision Resolution
Hash collisions are practically unavoidable when hashing a random subset of a large set of possible keys. For example, if 2,500 keys are hashed into a million buckets, even with a perfectly uniform random distribution, according to the birthday problem there is a 95% chance of at least two of the keys being hashed to the same slot.
Therefore, most hash table implementations have some collision resolution strategy to handle such events. Some common strategies are described below. All these methods require that the keys (or pointers to them) be stored in the table, together with the associated values.
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Famous quotes containing the words collision and/or resolution:
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—Norman Mailer (b. 1923)
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—François, Duc De La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680)