Question

A hash table can store a maximum of 10 records, currently there are records in location 1, 3,4,7,8,9,10. The probability of a new record going into location 2, with hash functions resolving collisions by linear probing is

(a) 0.1

(b) 0.6

(c) 0.2

(d) 0.5

This question was addressed to me in an international level competition.

This key question is from Hashing techniques in chapter Indexing and Hashing of Database Management

Answer 1

Right option is (b) 0.6

The best explanation: Hashing is used to index and retrieve items in a database because it is easier to find the item using the shortened hashed key than using the original value.