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In the article, x is not the size of the hash table, it is the inverse of the table’s filling fraction. A 1000-element table that is 90% full has x=10, N=1000.
Since they’re not discussing scaling of data sizes, would be confusing to use O(N) notation or people would make that assumption.
The article is discussing how to reduce the constant time factor which depends on the filling fraction, which is a speed-memory tradeoff when creating the hash table.
The innovation described allows for the use of fuller tables which are resized less frequently, or faster insertion/retrieval for the existing filling fraction.