When would up-to-date statistics not be valid? Do you mean, for example, a different number of histograms or different sample sizes were collected with the "up-to-date" statistics? -----Original Message----- Daniel Fink ... If you don't have valid (not the same as up-to-date) statistics on all the objects (and corollary objects) referenced in the query, you might get some defaults that are unrealistic or it may perform dynamic sampling. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.com ---------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe send email to: oracle-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx put 'unsubscribe' in the subject line. -- Archives are at //www.freelists.org/archives/oracle-l/ FAQ is at //www.freelists.org/help/fom-serve/cache/1.html -----------------------------------------------------------------