title: Computing the load factor in a hash table that coalesces duplicates?
body: <p>For a project, I'm creating a hash table of strings. It uses separate chaining, and for each filled position in the table, a linked list is created. This linked list contains a node, which stores the string, as well as its frequency. So, when a string is inserted:</p>
  
  <p>1.) If it matches the hash of another string, and the current string is NOT in the table, it will be appended to the list at this hash value, and will have a frequency of 1.</p>
  
  <p>2.) If there is a copy of the string in the table already, the frequency of this string will be incremented.</p>
  
  <p>How would I calculate the load factor for this table? Would it be the number of nodes over the total number of positions in the hash table (this doesn't include lists). Or, would it be the sum of the frequencies divided by the number of positions in the hash table?
  -Thanks!</p>