Dick, Thanks. After I set the parameters in the session to 90 and 50: MT@max-SQL> select name,value from v$parameter where name like 'optimizer_index%'; NAME ---------------------------------------------------------------- VALUE ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- optimizer_index_cost_adj 50 optimizer_index_caching 90 The cost based query's explain plan now is the same as rule based. This means it does use index. Guang ---------------------------------------------------------------- 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 -----------------------------------------------------------------