Shaun Thomas <sthomas@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > On 06/02/2011 11:15 AM, Kevin Grittner wrote: > >> They all gave the same result, of course, and they all used a seq >> scan.. > > And they all will. I always eschew generalizations, since they're always wrong. ;-) I used a real table which had somewhat similar indexes to what I think the OP is using, and tried the fastest query using the sequential scan. A typical result once cached: explain analyze select count(*) from (select distinct "caseType", "statusCode" from "Case") x; Aggregate (cost=10105.01..10105.02 rows=1 width=0) (actual time=478.893..478.893 rows=1 loops=1) -> HashAggregate (cost=10101.95..10103.31 rows=136 width=6) (actual time=478.861..478.881 rows=79 loops=1) -> Seq Scan on "Case" (cost=0.00..7419.20 rows=536550 width=6) (actual time=0.010..316.481 rows=536550 loops=1) Total runtime: 478.940 ms Then I tried it with a setting designed to discourage seq scans. A typical run: set cpu_tuple_cost = 1; explain analyze select count(*) from (select distinct "caseType", "statusCode" from "Case") x; Aggregate (cost=544529.30..544530.30 rows=1 width=0) (actual time=443.972..443.972 rows=1 loops=1) -> Unique (cost=0.00..544392.95 rows=136 width=6) (actual time=0.021..443.933 rows=79 loops=1) -> Index Scan using "Case_CaseTypeStatus" on "Case" (cost=0.00..541710.20 rows=536550 width=6) (actual time=0.019..347.193 rows=536550 loops=1) Total runtime: 444.014 ms Now, on a table which didn't fit in cache, this would probably be another story.... -Kevin -- Sent via pgsql-performance mailing list (pgsql-performance@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx) To make changes to your subscription: http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-performance