Western Governors University (WGU) ICSC2100 C949 Data Structures and Algorithms I Practice Exam

To determine which bucket the hash function will direct the search for the value 201 in a hash table with 50 buckets, we must apply the modulo operation. The principle behind using a modulo hash function involves taking the value to be hashed (in this case, 201) and calculating the remainder when it is divided by the number of buckets (50).

The calculation involved here is straightforward:

\[ \text{Bucket Number} = 201 \mod 50 \]

When you perform the division of 201 by 50, the quotient is 4 (since 50 goes into 201 four times, which is 200), and the remainder is 1 (because when you subtract 200 from 201, you're left with 1).

Therefore, the result of the modulo operation, which determines the specific bucket for the search, is 1. This means that the HashSearch function will look in bucket number 1 for the value 201 in the hash table. Understanding the modulo operation in this context is crucial as it ensures that the hashed value is distributed properly across the available buckets, allowing for efficient data retrieval.