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Re:How Hash Algorithms Work (2007) by halomru on Friday January 13, 2017 @09:14AM (#13390878)
While very useful, you can only construct a collision-free hash function if you know all possible inputs. Otherwise perfect hash functions can only give guarantees over the frequency of collisions.

In the more general case, for a hash function with n bits output, the pigeon hole principle demands that we have a collision at least every 2^n inputs.

Re:How Hash Algorithms Work (2007) by chris_va on Friday January 13, 2017 @11:46AM (#13392274)
Though 2^n could be much larger than the number of items in the observable universe fairly quickly.