> > testinsert contains t values between '2009-08-01' and '2009-08-09', and ne_id
> from 1 to 20000. But only 800 out of 20000 ne_id have to be read; there's no
> need for a table scan!
> > I guess this is a reflection of the poor "correlation" on ne_id; but, as I
> said, I don't really think ne_id is so bad correlated.
> > In fact, doing a "select ne_id, t from testinsert limit 100000" I can see
> that data is laid out pretty much by "ne_id, t", grouped by day (that is, same
> ne_id for one day, then next ne_id and so on until next day).
> > How is the "correlation" calculated? Can someone explain to me why, after the
> procedure above,correlation is so low???
>
> Did you run ANALYZE after the procedure above?
Yes I did; the correlation on that column stays low.
Of course, I didn't expect a correlation = 1, since data is layed out (pretty much) like this:
(ne_id1) (t1 day1)
(ne_id1) (t2 day1)
...
(ne_id1) (tn day1)
(ne_id2) (t1 day1)
(ne_id2) (t2 day1)
...
(ne_id2) (tn day1)
...
(pretty much all the ne_ids)
(ne_id1) (t1 day2)
(ne_id1) (t2 day2)
...
(ne_id1) (tn day2)
(ne_id2) (t1 day2)
(ne_id2) (t2 day2)
...
(ne_id2) (tn day2)
... and so on
so I ne_id is not strictly incrementing, but it is pretty much the same (sequencially) for a whole whole day...