Final answer:
An inverted index is a data structure used by search engines to optimize the search process. It maps unique terms to the documents that contain them, improving retrieval speed. This helps users find relevant information quickly and accurately.
Step-by-step explanation:
An inverted index is a data structure commonly used by search engines to optimize the process of searching for information.
It is created by taking a collection of documents and extracting the unique terms or keywords from each document.
Each term is then mapped to the documents that contain it, creating an efficient way to retrieve relevant documents based on the search query.
For example, let's say we have a collection of documents about cars.
The inverted index would map each unique term, such as 'engine' or 'tires', to the documents that mention those terms.
When a user enters a search query like 'fast cars', the search engine can quickly look up the terms 'fast' and 'cars' in the inverted index and retrieve the relevant documents.
Overall, the inverted index improves search engine performance by pre-processing the documents and efficiently organizing the terms for fast retrieval, allowing users to find the information they are looking for quickly and accurately.