What is the output of the query: SELECT TOP 100 AGE FROM USERS?

• A. The Top 100 ages in ascending order
• B. The Top 100 ages in descending order
• C. The Top 100 ages ordered by the creation date of the data
• D. Non-deterministic list of 100 ages

Answer: (D)

The key idea is that without an explicit sort, asking for a limited number of rows does not guarantee any particular order or even which rows appear. This query pulls 100 values from the AGE column, but since there is no ORDER BY clause, the engine is free to return any 100 rows and the order those rows come back in is not defined. Different executions can produce different sets of ages or present the same ages in a different sequence.

If you need a predictable result, add an ORDER BY, such as ORDER BY AGE ASC, and, if necessary, include a tie-breaker (for example, a primary key) to ensure a stable, deterministic order.