Question

Assume that each posting entry of document ID and term frequency takes exactly the same disk space. Which word, if removed from the inverted index, will save the most space?

a) "The"

b) "And"

c) "In"

d) "Is"

Answer 1

In an inverted index, removing 'the' would likely save the most space because it is usually the most frequently occurring word in English language texts.

Step-by-step explanation:

The student's question pertains to the optimization of an inverted index in information retrieval systems, a common task in computer science related to search engine data structures. An inverted index is a database index that lists all the locations where each unique word occurs within a set of documents.

The word that, if removed, will save the most space is typically the one that appears the most frequently in the indexed documents. Common words like 'the', 'and', 'in', and 'is' tend to have higher term frequencies. Because 'the' is generally the most common word in the English language, removing it would likely save the most space in the inverted index.