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Database Indexing Trade-Offs
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Database Indexing Trade-Offs

HardSQL · PostgreSQL

Problem

Explain the trade-offs between different database indexing strategies for a food-ordering system.

Use the supplied tables and query workload to produce the requested order totals, then explain which indexes would support this access pattern and their costs.

Output

  1. One row per completed order created in January 2026, excluding orders outside the date range or with another status.
  2. Columns: order_id, restaurant_id, created_at, and order_total.
  3. Include completed orders with no items as 0.00. Order by created_at ascending, then order_id ascending.

Schema

orders
ColumnTypeDescription
order_idPKINTUnique food order identifier
customer_idINTCustomer identifier
restaurant_idINTRestaurant identifier
statusVARCHAR(40)Current order status
created_atTIMESTAMPOrder creation timestamp
order_items
ColumnTypeDescription
order_item_idPKINTUnique order line identifier
order_idINTReferenced order identifier
menu_item_idINTReferenced menu item identifier
quantityINTQuantity ordered
menu_items
ColumnTypeDescription
menu_item_idPKINTUnique menu item identifier
item_nameVARCHAR(100)Menu item name
unit_priceNUMERIC(10,2)Price per item
is_availableBOOLEANWhether the item is currently available
Tablesordersorder_itemsmenu_items
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