Wolfgang, This could explain my situation. The table is partitioned on the column which is the first column in the Primary key, but it is not part of the where clause thank you Gene Gurevich Wolfgang Breitling <breitliw@centrex To cc.com> genegurevich@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx cc 08/01/2006 09:57 oracle-l <oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> AM Subject Re: Column order in indices (oracle 9.2) Is the partitioning based on the first(leading) column of the index? In my experience - don't know if it's a fixed rule - a local partitioned index is not being used unless the partitioning column is among the predicates. Having said that, I haven't had a chance to possibly revise that experience with Oracle 9.2 or 10. Quoting genegurevich@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx: > Yechiel: > > The answers are yes and yes - the index is partitioned locally and I do > have the histograms > > thank you -- regards Wolfgang Breitling Oracle 7,8,8i,9i OCP DBA Centrex Consulting Corporation www.centrexcc.com -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l