Statistical Behavior of Search Keys

Abstract

In discussion about search keys, concern has been expressed as to how the nunber of items tetrieved by a single value relates to collection size. This paper creates a statistical model that attempts to give some insight into this behavior. It is concluded that, in general, the observed behavior can be explained as being intrinsically statistical in nature rather than being a property of specific search keys. An attempt is made to relate this model to other tesearch, and to indicate how this model may be made to yield more accurate predictions.