Chapter 14, Problem 21E

Explanation of Solution

Given scenario:

• An attribute that stores values for names is taken, where:
  • Maximum size of name can be as large as 40 characters.
  • Average size is around 10 characters.

The given attribute will face two issues:

• Each name will be of different length.
• Names can be quite long as stated.
• It may result in low fan-out and a likewise increase in the height of the tree.
• Additionally, having variable length search keys will result in different nodes having different fan-outs, even if they are full.
• Prefix compression can be used to increase the fan-out of a node...