Re: the 20% rule

aarklon_at_gmail.com wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I recently read the following in a book(oracle 9i for dummies by
> Carol McCullough Dieter)
>
> The fastest way to retrieve rows from a table is to access the row
> with exact row id. An
> index is the second fastest way, but it decreases in performance as
> the proprotion of the rows retrieved increases. if you are retrieving
> approximately 20 % of the rows in a table, using a index is just as
> fast. But beyond that magic 20 %, not using 20% is faster.
>
> keep this rule in mind when you create indexes intended to help speed
> up a query.
> Queries vary in the rows that they select from a table. if you have a
> query that you use often,
> determine the number of rows that it selects from the table. if this
> number is more than 20%
> of the total no: of rows in the table , an index on the table may not
> improve the performance
> of the query. you may just want to try both methods. if the number of
> rows is less than 20%, an index will almost certainly help
> performance.
>
> my question is to what extent this rule is true ?

If you want to understand performance optimization, I suggest you learn about the actual physical structures themselves and read one of Shasha's books on the subject.

Made up percentages are just bullshit. Received on Thu Jul 24 2008 - 19:17:51 CEST