Протестировал это на R 3.5.0.
set.seed(0)
x <- rexp(100)
length(unique(x)) ## 100
## this fails as I expect
unique(x, nmax = 98)
#Error in unique.default(x, nmax = 98) : hash table is full
## but how come does this succeed?
length(unique(x, nmax = 99)) ## 100