# Why is Gmail so vague about the number of search results?

**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-gmail-so-vague-about-the-number-of-search-results/653379
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [March 19, 2013, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-gmail-so-vague-about-the-number-of-search-results/653379 "2013-03-19T18:18:59Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 2

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### Author: ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2013, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-gmail-so-vague-about-the-number-of-search-results/653379/21 "2013-03-20T14:56:45Z")

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^^^ Not to mention that Gmail’s search function is as good - or most likely, much better - than any other email provider’s search function, whether they’re free or not.

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### Author: ![Blakeyrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blakeyrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blakeyrat)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2013, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-gmail-so-vague-about-the-number-of-search-results/653379/22 "2013-03-20T17:00:16Z")

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> [@friedo](#):
>
> Not really.

Fine whatever.

At least I didn’t answer “it’s free” or any of the other useless things in the thread. If you have a better answer than mine, by all means, provide it.

My understanding is that Gmail search makes use of Map/Reduce. If I’m wrong, than I’m wrong.

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### Author: ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2013, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-gmail-so-vague-about-the-number-of-search-results/653379/23 "2013-03-20T19:30:17Z")

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> [@MsWhatsit](#):
>
> Are they retarded? Because if I were to ask you a factual question about a service and you smugly told me that the answer was, “It’s free,” I’d want to know what was wrong with you and whether you had misheard my question. The OP’s question (which is not a “gripe”) has an actual answer, which is being discussed by reasonably intelligent people in this thread. That answer is not, “Haw haw, it’s free.”

Perhaps in your haste to find my wee joke “smug,” you missed the fact that I followed it up with an actual answer that addresses the factual question.

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