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Informix Error -740: Resolution must be greater than 0.005 and less than, or equal to, 10.0.

Cause and resolution

Resolution must be greater than 0.005 and less than, or equal to, 10.0.

The value of this parameter determines how finely the data distribution is resolved. A resolution of 10.0 implies that the accuracy of any estimate for the application of any single selection filter is limited to (+ or -) 5 percent. A value greater than 10.0 would be of little value because it would not provide sufficient detail about the distribution of the data.

Oninit® Troubleshooting Guidance

Reasons / Common Causes

-740 fires when UPDATE STATISTICS's RESOLUTION value falls outside (0.005, 10.0] — per the official guidance, resolution controls how finely the data distribution is resolved (10.0 means roughly ±5% accuracy for a single selection filter's estimate), and a value above 10.0 wouldn't add meaningful detail while a value at or below 0.005 falls outside the supported range.

  1. A resolution value greater than 10.0, per the official guidance — pointless beyond this point since it wouldn't yield additional useful detail.
  2. A resolution value of 0.005 or lower (including zero or negative), per the official guidance — below the supported range.
  3. A resolution value chosen without understanding the percentage-accuracy relationship, per the official guidance's specific example (10.0 ≈ ±5% accuracy) — smaller resolution values mean finer (more accurate) distributions at higher cost.
Solutions / Resolution
  1. Use a resolution value greater than 0.005 and no more than 10.0, per the official guidance.
  2. Pick the resolution based on the accuracy actually needed, per the official guidance's accuracy relationship — finer (smaller) resolution values cost more to compute but yield more accurate distributions; 10.0 is the coarsest useful setting.
Examples
Resolution too high
UPDATE STATISTICS MEDIUM RESOLUTION 15.0 FOR TABLE orders;
-- -740: 15.0 exceeds the 10.0 maximum
Corrected — within range
UPDATE STATISTICS MEDIUM RESOLUTION 1.0 FOR TABLE orders;
Diagnostic Checks
  1. Check the resolution value against the (0.005, 10.0] range.
Related Errors / Related Topics
  • -736 — "The RESOLUTION and SAMPLING SIZE clauses are not valid for the LOW mode of the UPDATE STATISTICS statement." A related RESOLUTION restriction, about which modes accept the clause at all.
  • -737 — "The confidence value and the SAMPLING SIZE clause are not valid for the HIGH mode of the UPDATE STATISTICS statement." A related RESOLUTION restriction, on the confidence argument specifically.
  • -739 — "Confidence must be in the range [0.80, 0.99] (inclusive)." A related UPDATE STATISTICS parameter-range restriction, on the confidence value rather than resolution.

Resolution must fall in (0.005, 10.0] — smaller values mean finer, more accurate (and more expensive) distributions.