5. Apparatus for associatively searching a collection of records to identify those records having desired characteristics, comprising: means for assigning a binary code word to each of said records based upon each of its individual characteristics; means for storing said binary code words in an auxiliary file; means for generating a binary query code based upon said desired characteristics; and means for determining which of said binary code words in said file logically include said binary query code, wherein said assigning means includes means for forming a width b weight K code word for each of said individual characteristics of a record and means for combining said width b weight K code words by logically OR'ing them together on a bit-by-bit basis.
5. Apparatus for associatively searching a collection of records to identify those records having desired characteristics, comprising: means for assigning a binary code word to each of said records based upon each of its individual characteristics; means for storing said binary code words in an auxiliary file; means for generating a binary query code based upon said desired characteristics; and means for determining which of said binary code words in said file logically include said binary query code, wherein said assigning means includes means for forming a width b weight K code word for each of said individual characteristics of a record and means for combining said width b weight K code words by logically OR'ing them together on a bit-by-bit basis. 7. Apparatus defined in claim 5 wherein said forming means includes: (a) means for numerically representing each of said individual characteristics as a variable bit binary number; (b) means for converting said variable bit binary number to a fixed bit binary number via hash coding; (c) means for generating a sequence of pseudo-random numbers in response to said fixed bit binary number; (d) means for scaling said pseudo-random numbers into the range between 0 and b-1; and (e) means for selecting K of said b bits in response to said scaled numbers.