leichter@yale-com.UUCP (Jerry Leichter) (02/13/84)
There is no reason why a hash table as such has to have a prime number of entries. Some hashing ALGORITHMS do better with a prime number of entries; some, in fact, REQUIRE it. If you can be more specific about the particular hashing algorithm used, I might be able to explain the relevance of a prime table size. (Note: In many cases, the use of a prime size is more a matter of superstition than an actual requirement of the algorithm; many of these algorithms will work just as well provided the size does not have any small prime factors; in fact, in many cases any odd number will do quite well.) -- Jerry
6096cw15@sjuvax.UUCP (02/13/84)
Newsgroups: net.followup Subject: Re: Hash table size selection References: <997@proper.UUCP> Newsgroups: net.followup Subject: Re: Hash table size selection References: <997@proper.UUCP>