# According the docs: dis\_max without tie\_breaker, should return same score, but in practice it doesn't happen

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/according-the-docs-dis-max-without-tie-breaker-should-return-same-score-but-in-practice-it-doesnt-happen/53671>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [June 22, 2016, 2:22pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/according-the-docs-dis-max-without-tie-breaker-should-return-same-score-but-in-practice-it-doesnt-happen/53671 "2016-06-22T14:22:49Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dilucca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b3f665/32.png) [@dilucca](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dilucca)\
**Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 2:22pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/according-the-docs-dis-max-without-tie-breaker-should-return-same-score-but-in-practice-it-doesnt-happen/53671/1 "2016-06-22T14:22:49Z")

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Hi all!

I'm following the Elasticsearch documentation practicing the examples.

I trying to do this: [https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/guide/current/\_tuning\_best\_fields\_queries.html](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/guide/current/_tuning_best_fields_queries.html)

I created two docs in my\_index/my\_type:

```
{
          "_id": 1
          "title": "Quick brown rabbits",
          "body": "Brown rabbits are commonly seen."
}

```

and

```
{
          "_id": 2
          "title": "Keeping pets healthy",
          "body": "My quick brown fox eats rabbits on a regular basis."
}

```

So, I performed the query:

```
{
    "query": {
        "dis_max": {
            "queries": [
                { "match": { "title": "Quick pets" }},
                { "match": { "body": "Quick pets" }}
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

**What is expected according with above link:** obtain the same score in two results.

```
{
  "hits": [
     {
        "_id": "1",
        "_score": 0.12713557, 
        "_source": {
           "title": "Quick brown rabbits",
           "body": "Brown rabbits are commonly seen."
        }
     },
     {
        "_id": "2",
        "_score": 0.12713557, 
        "_source": {
           "title": "Keeping pets healthy",
           "body": "My quick brown fox eats rabbits on a regular basis."
        }
     }
   ]
}

```

**What I got:** Different scores.

```
"hits": {
    "total": 2,
    "max_score": 0.02250402,
    "hits": [
      {
        "_index": "my_index",
        "_type": "my_type",
        "_id": "2",
        "_score": 0.02250402,
        "_source": {
          "title": "Keeping pets healthy",
          "body": "My quick brown fox eats rabbits on a regular basis."
        }
      },
      {
        "_index": "my_index",
        "_type": "my_type",
        "_id": "1",
        "_score": 0.016645055,
        "_source": {
          "title": "Quick brown rabbits",
          "body": "Brown rabbits are commonly seen."
        }
      }
    ]
  }

```

Why this occurs? Did I anything wrong? Is it dis\_max relevance score broken?

Thank you!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![nik9000](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/nik9000/32/44947_2.png) [@nik9000](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/nik9000)\
**Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 2:37pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/according-the-docs-dis-max-without-tie-breaker-should-return-same-score-but-in-practice-it-doesnt-happen/53671/2 "2016-06-22T14:37:53Z")

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> [@dilucca](#):
>
> Why this occurs?

Have a look at the output of the query with `?explain` and it should explain it. If I had to guess it is either length norms or different statistics on different shards. If you create the index with a single shard and disable norms on the fields, what does it give then? What does `?explain` say then?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dilucca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b3f665/32.png) [@dilucca](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dilucca)\
**Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 2:51pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/according-the-docs-dis-max-without-tie-breaker-should-return-same-score-but-in-practice-it-doesnt-happen/53671/3 "2016-06-22T14:51:05Z")

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> [@nik9000](#):
>
> If you create the index with a single shard and disable norms on the fields, what does it give then?

It works like a charm.

Thank you for your reply!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2017, 10:41pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/according-the-docs-dis-max-without-tie-breaker-should-return-same-score-but-in-practice-it-doesnt-happen/53671/4 "2017-07-05T22:41:23Z")

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