A Unified Approach to Linear Probing Hashing with Buckets

We give a unified analysis of linear probing hashing with a general bucket size. We use both a combinatorial approach, giving exact formulas for generating functions, and a probabilistic approach, giving simple derivations of asymptotic results. Both approaches complement nicely, and give a good ins...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Algorithmica Vol. 75; no. 4; pp. 724 - 781
Main Authors: Janson, Svante, Viola, Alfredo
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: New York Springer US 01.08.2016
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ISSN:0178-4617, 1432-0541, 1432-0541
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:We give a unified analysis of linear probing hashing with a general bucket size. We use both a combinatorial approach, giving exact formulas for generating functions, and a probabilistic approach, giving simple derivations of asymptotic results. Both approaches complement nicely, and give a good insight in the relation between linear probing and random walks. A key methodological contribution, at the core of Analytic Combinatorics, is the use of the symbolic method (based on q -calculus) to directly derive the generating functions to analyze.
ISSN:0178-4617
1432-0541
1432-0541
DOI:10.1007/s00453-015-0111-x