Query Size Estimation by Adaptive Sampling (Extended Abstract)

Summary: Adaptive random-sampling estimator for queries decomposable into bounded-cost answer blocks; adaptively chooses sample count so runtime remains stable despite widely varying sample costs. Yields R⋈S estimate in time linear in smaller relation (O(1) if per-tuple joins bounded), transitive closure ≈O(n√m) (linear for near-uniform degree), and applies to recursive Datalog. (summarized by gpt-5-mini on Feb 09 2026)

Paper ID: 886
Venue: PODS
Year: 1990
Pagerank: 0.00012790174
Overall Rank: 992 | 93.20%
DOI: 10.1145/298514.298540

Incoming Non-self Citations Over Time

Authors

1. Richard J. Lipton (Princeton University)
2. Jeffrey F. Naughton (University of Wisconsin)

BibTeX Citation

@inproceedings{lipton_pods90,
        address = {New York, NY, USA},
        series = {{PODS} '90},
        title = {{Query Size Estimation by Adaptive Sampling (Extended Abstract)}},
        url = {https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/298514.298540},
        doi = {10.1145/298514.298540},
        booktitle = {Proceedings of the {ACM} {SIGMOD} Symposium on {Principles} of {Database} {Systems}},
        publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},
        author = {Lipton, Richard J. and Naughton, Jeffrey F.},
        year = {1990}
}

Incoming Citations (Sorted by Pagerank)

Showing 17 of 17 citing papers.

Rank	Citing Paper	Year	Venue	Pagerank
76	Practical Selectivity Estimation through Adaptive Sampling	1990	SIGMOD	0.00037054261
339	Sequential Sampling Procedures For Query Size Estimation	1992	SIGMOD	0.00020723773
484	Error-Constrained COUNT Query Evaluation in Relational Databases	1991	SIGMOD	0.00017746696
508	Random Sampling for Histogram Construction: How much is enough?	1998	SIGMOD	0.00017275873
593	Wander Join: Online Aggregation via Random Walks	2016	SIGMOD	0.00016027871
730	Bifocal Sampling for Skew-Resistant Join Size Estimation	1996	SIGMOD	0.00014539362
904	Tradeoffs in Processing Complex Join Queries via Hashing in Multiprocessor Database Machines	1990	VLDB	0.00013319798
1,186	Fixed-Precision Estimation of Join Selectivity	1993	PODS	0.00011764128
1,427	Substring Selectivity Estimation	1999	PODS	0.00010812749
1,440	On the Relative Cost of Sampling for Join Selectivity Estimation	1994	PODS	0.00010778889
1,558	SchemaSQL - A Language for Interoperability in Relational Multi-database Systems	1996	VLDB	0.00010366362
1,664	Two-Level Sampling for Join Size Estimation	2017	SIGMOD	0.00010070362
4,458	Random Sampling from Pseudo-Ranked B+ Trees	1992	VLDB	6.6905953e-05
5,046	Toward Practical Constraint Databases	1993	VLDB	6.3879316e-05
8,155	Containment Join Size Estimation: Models and Methods	2003	SIGMOD	5.4766319e-05
11,194	Enabling Adaptive Sampling for Intra-Window Join: Simultaneously Optimizing Quantity and Quality	2024	SIGMOD	5.093636e-05
13,076	Learning Efficient Query Processing Strategies	1992	PODS	5.093636e-05

Outgoing Citations (Sorted by Pagerank)

Showing 10 of 10 cited papers.

Citations counted here include only citations to other VLDB/SIGMOD/CIDR/PODS papers in this database.

Rank	Cited Paper	Year	Venue	Pagerank
1	Access Path Selection in a Relational Database Management System	1979	SIGMOD	0.0024089429
36	Accurate Estimation Of The Number Of Tuples Satisfying A Condition	1984	SIGMOD	0.00048351457
55	Statistical Estimators for Relational Algebra Expressions	1988	PODS	0.00040746149
173	Simple Random Sampling from Relational Databases	1986	VLDB	0.00027273858
417	Estimating Block Transfers and Join Sizes	1983	SIGMOD	0.00018819871
622	LDL: A Logic-Based Data-Language	1986	VLDB	0.00015686753
934	Selectivity Estimation and Query Optimization in Large Databases with Highly Skewed Distributions of Column Values	1988	VLDB	0.00013108714
1,382	Estimating the Size of Generalized Transitive Closures	1989	VLDB	0.00010965236
1,405	Top-down statistical estimation on a database	1983	SIGMOD	0.00010875661
1,653	Bounds on the Propagation of Selection into Logic Programs	1987	PODS	0.000101081

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