The analysis of an improved hashing technique

We discuss the problem of hashing in a full or nearly full table using open addressing. A scheme for reordering the table as new elements are added is presented. Under the assumption of having a reasonable hash function sequence, it is shown that even with a full table only about 2.13 probes will be required, on the average, to access an element. This scheme has the advantage that the expected time for adding a new element is proportional to that required to determine that an element is not in the table. Attention is then turned to the optimal reordering scheme (which is a maximum flow problem) and the minimax problem of arranging the table so as to minimize the length of the longest probe sequence to find any element. A unified algorithm is presented for both of these as well as the first method suggested. A number of simulation results are reported, the most interesting being an indication that the optimal reordering scheme will lead to an average of about 1.83 probes per search in a full table.