hashCode doesn't necessarily identify a unique object.

the rule is that if two instances equal each other (via

.equals()

, which is

==

in Kotlin (except for NaN which we'll ignore here)), then they must have the same

hashCode()

. this implies the contrapositive (if two instances have different

hashCode()

then they must not be

==

), but does not imply the converse: it is allowed for two instances to have the same

hashCode()

but be

!=