Lesson 7 of 20 · about 13 min
The pigeonhole principle
If more pigeons than holes, some hole holds two. This almost-too-simple idea proves surprising facts, like why every hash function has collisions and why no program can compress every file. You'll use it to find collisions and to guarantee how crowded the busiest bucket must be.
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In this lesson you'll learn:
- Pigeonhole principle
- Generalized pigeonhole
Free to try in F06 Discrete Math:
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