Until 10g, the optimizer does not peek at values for this
query - it uses the standard col >/< :bind algorithms which
basically means the predicate has a selectivity of 0.25%
(5% of 5%).
> - "where date between to_date(:b1) and to_date(b2)"
You say you can't change the query, so if you want to
fake this query, you probably need to use dbms_stats.set_table_stats
to tell Oracle that the table has a very small number of rows -
but don't change the block count - so that a properly calculated
selectivity is fooled into getting the right cardinality. Then capture
the execution plan in a stored outline - and put the stats back to
normal.
