Question

What is a collision in a hash function?

2 inputs map to the same output

There are few outputs, but a lot of inputs.


There are few inputs, but a lot of outputs.

2 outputs come from the same input

Answer 1

A collision in a hash function refers to a situation where two different inputs produce the same output or hash value. It means that two distinct inputs result in an identical hash value, which can occur due to the limited range of the output space compared to the potentially infinite input space. This can create complications in certain applications that rely on hash functions, such as data storage and retrieval, as it can lead to data integrity issues or inefficiencies.