NTILE

  • Comments posted to this topic are about the item NTILE

  • Easy and nice.....

  • Easy one, thanks.

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  • Thank YOU all for the encouragement.

    The SQL bug bite is just beginning to take effect for me. 🙂

  • the rows in an ordered partition into a specified number of groups

    In the answer a word is missing "Distributes".

    So, NTILE returns the number of the group to which the row belongs

    and not the number of the rows in an ordered partition into a specified number of groups.

  • Sorry, but I think the answers are not worded correctly (so there is no correct answer in that list), so I selected the one that seemed least incorrect. And I was wrong of course.

    The so called correct answer "the rows in an ordered partition into a specified number of groups" seems to be incorrect to me. It doesn't state that it is the number of the group to which the row belongs that is returned, but the number of rows in a specific partition.

    The description from Technet is much clearer: "For each row, NTILE returns the number of the group to which the row belongs."

    I want my point back.

  • I don't know how to give points back but I will keep in mind what you said the next time I post a question.

    Still I think this is pretty clear. NTILE returns:

    "the rows in an ordered partition into a specified number of groups."

    Thanks for the feedback.

  • Nice and easy if stuck the BOL is a good place to check out.

  • This was removed by the editor as SPAM

  • I think that the correct answer is badly worded. Certainly it is correct, whereas that's clearly impossible for each of the other three options. But it uses the word "partition" in one sense (the whole set presented along with a partitioning of it), while the same word is used in its other, rather more common, sense (one of the subsets into which the whole sets is partitioned) in each of the three incorrect answers; if it meant partition in the latter sense, it would be incorrect. In context with the other three options, it's natural to assume that partition has its more common meaning so that tends to confuse people.

    Since the other three options are so utterly wrong and incapable of being interpreted as anything anywhere near correct, this shouldn't have caused anyone any real problem though.

    Anyway, MS named this wrong; ntile should have been nthtile, after all we say quartile not quattile :hehe:

    Tom

  • Thanks for the question, it made me scratch my head 🙂

    The answers are worded as in BOL, anyway just trying to match the definition with the RANKING functions was a simple guess

    the sequential number of a row within a partition of a result set, starting at 1 for the first row in each partition. --> ROW_NUMBER

    the rank of each row within the partition of a result set. After a tie there will numeric gaps in the next ranked number.--> RANK

    the rows in an ordered partition into a specified number of groups. --> NTILE

    the rank of rows within the partition of a result set, without any gaps in the ranking. --> DENSE_RANK

  • WOW... Thanks for organizing it so neatly. Exactly what the question was intended for.

  • Nice simple question. Don't be put off by the comments about improving the wording. They just want to help you make a better question the NEXT time you offer one. 😉

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  • Again, the question serves its purpose of making me investigate and learn something - but the wording just isn't clear. I read the very same article that is linked before selecting my answer and still had difficulty translating the right answer into one of the available options.

    "Distributes the rows in an ordered partition into a specified number of groups. The groups are numbered, starting at one. For each row, NTILE returns the number of the group to which the row belongs."

  • Good question. One of those code tricks where I go "this is really cool but I can't think of anywhere I would use it".

    Tony
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