Using Optimal Golomb Rulers for Minimizing Collisions in Closed Hashing

Abstract. We give conditions for hash table probing which minimize the expected number of collisions. A probing algorithm is determined by a sequence of numbers denoting jumps for an item during multiple collisions. In linear probing, this sequence consists of only ones – for each collision we jump to the next location. To minimize the collisions, it turns out that one should use the Golomb ruler conditions: consecutive partial sums of the jump sequence should be distinct. The commonly used quadratic probing scheme fulfils the Golomb condition for some cases. We define a new probing scheme – Golomb probing - that fulfills the Golomb conditions for a much larger set of cases. Simulations show that Golomb probing is always better than quadratic and linear and in some cases the collisions can be reduced with 25% compared to quadratic and with more than 50% compared to linear.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2004
• Where: ASIAN
• Authors: Lars Lundberg, Håkan Lennerstad, Kamilla Klonowska, Göran Gustafsson
• Keywords: ASIAN 2004, Golomb, Linear Probing, Probing Scheme