No. Hash narrows the search to a bucket; equality preserves key identity inside collisions.

A hash is a hallway number, not a person’s identity. Several keys may enter the same hallway; the bucket still compares their actual keys.

What the function promises: Map supports set and get for hashable keys using separate chaining. This teaching version has fixed capacity and get raises KeyError on a miss.

class ChainMap:
    def __init__(self, capacity=8):
        if capacity <= 0: raise ValueError("Positive capacity required")
        self.buckets = [[] for _ in range(capacity)]
    def _bucket(self, key):
        return self.buckets[hash(key) % len(self.buckets)]
    def set(self, key, value):
        bucket = self._bucket(key)
        for entry in bucket:
            if entry[0] == key:
                entry[1] = value
                return
        bucket.append([key, value])
    def get(self, key):
        for stored, value in self._bucket(key):
            if stored == key: return value
        raise KeyError(key)

table = ChainMap(1)
table.set("a", 1); table.set("b", 2); table.set("a", 3)
assert table.get("a") == 3 and table.get("b") == 2

Work and storage: Expected O(1) operations under a well-distributed hash and controlled load; worst case O(n).

When to recognize it: Hash narrows the search to a bucket; equality preserves key identity inside collisions.

Check before applying it: Adversarial collisions can make operations linear, and mutable keys can become unfindable.

Probe alternative slots and preserve tombstones on deletion so searches do not stop too early.