A Closer Look at "Statistics" in an SQL Server Sense--And Why They're So Important to Microsoft Dynamics NAV Users

There is the proverb "Never trust a statistic which you haven't faked yourself". Well, as SQL Server is as human as the next guy, this saying applies quite well ...

But what are these ominous statistics and what they are used for? The official definition for "statistics" in a SQL Server sense is: "Statistics for query optimization are objects that contain statistical information about the distribution of values in one or more columns of a table or indexed view".

Let's translate this into English. The "distribution of values in a column" actually mean, how many different values could be distinguished for that column. For example, if a "Sales Line" record has a field &q...

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