Re: n_distinct off by a factor of 1000

On 6/23/20 7:05 AM, Fabio Pardi wrote:
>
> On 23/06/2020 14:42, Klaudie Willis wrote:
>> I got my first hint of why this problem occurs when I looked at the
>> statistics.  For the column in question, "instrument_ref" the
>> statistics claimed it to be:
>>
>> The default_statistics_target=500, and analyze has been run.
>> select * from pg_stats where attname like 'instr%_ref'; -- Result:
>> *40.000*
>> select count(distinct instrumentid_ref) from bigtable -- Result: *33
>> 385 922 (!!)*
>>
>> That is an astonishing difference of almost a 1000X.
>>
>
> I think you are counting 2 different things here.
>
> The first query returns all the columns "like 'instr%_ref'" present in
> the statistics (so in the whole cluster), while the second is counting
> the actual number of different rows in bigtable.

I believe the OP actually meant the query to be:

select n_distinct from pg_stats where attname like 'instr%_ref';

>
>
> regards,
>
> fabio pardi

--
Adrian Klaver
adrian(dot)klaver(at)aklaver(dot)com