I think it might be useful to look at Cost-Based Oracle Fundamentals book from Jonathan (chapter on Selectivity) that has nice description for these issues.
I need any information on how CBO calculates [predicate] selectivity which is more precise than in the Note:68992.1
-- Best regards, Alex Gorbachev
http://blog.oracloid.com -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l