> I would also note that it is not the maximum lengts of the
> worst chain what matters but the sum of squares of the lengths.

> I mean: I consider more correct to evaluate the "good spreading"
> of the hash function something like:

I use the McKenzie et. al measure for goodness, namely the ratio
between the ideal number of probes to locate each word in the table
vs the number of probes the function at hand generated, indicated as Rn
in my table.

ideal number of probes is W(W+N)/2N, where W is the number of words
to hash, and N is the size of the hash table, obviously. :)

cheers...	oz
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ozan s. yigit			staff engineer, sun microsystems/es
http://www.cs.yorku.ca/~oz	ozan.yigit@sun.com || +1 [905] 415 2878
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according to the philosopher, Ly Tin Wheedle, chaos is found in greatest
abundance wherever order is being sought. It always defeats order,
because it is better organised.