Subj : Re: Multi-dimensional data structure To : comp.programming From : Adi Date : Wed Oct 12 2005 06:57 am In general, I don't know if hashing works for the same reasons that you outline above. xor(a, a, b) = xor(c, c, b). I can guarentee that I won't be using duplicates such as in the example above but I still get the same problem in the following situation A = 0101 B = 1000 C = 1101 D = 1111 E = 1010 xor(A, B, C) = xor(A, D, E) in general, xor is not a sensible function use. I could use some other general function f(X, Y, Z) for instance but unless I can guarentee that f(...) would be unique I still have the same problem. In this context, the only solution I can come up with is ensuring that the hashcodes of X, Y, Z are unique prime numbers and f multiplies them together. That way I can be sure that f will be unique. This alreadys starts to become too complicated. Regardless, thanks for the reply. Adi .