GATE CS 2015 Set 3 Q.27 (CS Q.17): Hash Tables and Collision Resolution

Given a hash table $T$ with 25 slots that stores 2000 elements, the load factor $\alpha$ for $T$ is _____.

Your answer

Official answer and solution

Official answer: 80
From: Official GATE 2015 answer key

Solution

Apply the definition of hash table load factor.

The load factor $\alpha$ of a hash table $T$ is defined as the ratio of the number of stored elements $n$ to the total number of available slots $m$ :

\alpha = \frac{n}{m}

Given:

Number of elements $n = 2000$
Number of slots $m = 25$

\alpha = \frac{2000}{25} = 80

Final answer

Common trap

Inverting the ratio (25 / 2000 = 0.0125) instead of computing elements per slot.

The answer is the one in the official GATE answer key. The solution is this site's own explanation.

Source

Paper: GATE 2015 Computer Science and Information Technology (CS) Session 3
Question: 27 of 65, printed as CS Q.17
Section: Computer Science and Information Technology

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