Hashing Questions
Quadratic probing and chaining are both techniques used in hashing to handle collisions.
Quadratic probing is a method where, when a collision occurs, the hash function is applied to the original key plus an incrementing quadratic sequence (1, 4, 9, 16, etc.) until an empty slot is found. This helps to distribute the keys more evenly and reduces clustering. However, quadratic probing can still suffer from clustering and may not always find an empty slot, leading to performance degradation.
Chaining, on the other hand, involves creating a linked list of elements in each slot of the hash table. When a collision occurs, the new element is simply added to the linked list at that slot. Chaining allows for multiple elements to be stored in the same slot, reducing the chances of collisions. However, it may require additional memory for the linked lists and can result in slower search times if the linked lists become too long.
In summary, quadratic probing uses a mathematical sequence to find an empty slot, while chaining uses linked lists to handle collisions.