# Issues with scoring and query boost

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/issues-with-scoring-and-query-boost/10293>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [January 10, 2013, 11:50am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/issues-with-scoring-and-query-boost/10293 "2013-01-10T11:50:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![rohit\_reddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rohit\_reddy](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/rohit_reddy)\
**Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 11:50am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/issues-with-scoring-and-query-boost/10293/1 "2013-01-10T11:50:47Z")

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Hi,

We are currently migrating from lucene to elasticsearch. We rely on lucene  
scoring to correctly sort our search results. We tried to use the scoring  
of elasticsearch for the same.  
But we are facing few issues with the algo, esp the boost parameter.

We query on multiple fields with different boost for each field.  
For example... for the field "nametoken" we gave a boost of 5. But when we  
look at the query explanation, we are getting the following:

13.09477 = (MATCH) sum of:  
13.09477 = (MATCH) weight(nameTokens:somename^15625.0 in 28989),  
product of:  
0.9999997 = queryWeight(nameTokens:somename^15625.0), product of:  
_15625.0 = boost_  
13.094774 = idf(docFreq=36, maxDocs=6620571)  
4.8874444E-6 = queryNorm  
13.094774 = (MATCH) fieldWeight(nameTokens:somename in 28989),  
product of:  
1.0 = tf(termFreq(nameTokens:somename)=1)  
13.094774 = idf(docFreq=36, maxDocs=6620571)  
1.0 = fieldNorm(field=nameTokens, doc=28989)  
0.5 = coord(1/2)

How did the boost increase to that. This does not happen in lucene.  
We are using "dfs\_query\_then\_fetch" search type. Index has 5 shards and 1  
replica. Using 0.20.2 version of elasticsearch

Thanks  
Rohit

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![rohit\_reddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rohit\_reddy](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/rohit_reddy)\
**Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 9:54am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/issues-with-scoring-and-query-boost/10293/2 "2013-01-11T09:54:48Z")

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I noticed the following behavior :

The scoring seems to change with each query though there is no change to  
the index. This is mainly due to issues with boost parameter  
The first query gives the correct results. But if the same query is fired  
mulitple time the results change

For the query : with sort as score sort  
Explanations for 2 returned docs and given below. Want to understand why is  
the score changing. Am I doing something wrong

"bool" : {  
"must" : {  
"bool" : {  
"should" : [ {  
"bool" : {  
"must" : {  
"query\_string" : {  
"query" : ""microsoft"",  
"fields" : ["nameTokens"],  
"analyzer" : "analyzerWithoutStop"  
}  
},  
"boost" : 5.0  
}  
}, {  
"bool" : {  
"should" : {  
"query\_string" : {  
"query" : ""[insideview.com](http://insideview.com)"",  
"fields" : ["companyDomain"],  
"analyzer" : "analyzerWithoutStop"  
}  
},  
"boost" : 10.0  
}  
} ]  
}  
}  
}  
}

Explanation for first query :

3.1991732 = (MATCH) product of:  
6.3983464 = (MATCH) sum of:  
6.3983464 = (MATCH) weight(companyDomain:insideview.com^10.0 in 223),  
product of:  
0.93694496 = queryWeight(companyDomain:insideview.com^10.0), product  
of:  
10.0 = boost  
6.8289456 = idf(docFreq=2, maxDocs=1020)  
0.013720199 = queryNorm  
6.8289456 = (MATCH) fieldWeight(companyDomain:insideview.com in 223),  
product of:  
1.0 = tf(termFreq(companyDomain:insideview.com)=1)  
6.8289456 = idf(docFreq=2, maxDocs=1020)  
1.0 = fieldNorm(field=companyDomain, doc=223)  
0.5 = coord(1/2)

0.89017844 = (MATCH) product of:  
1.7803569 = (MATCH) sum of:  
1.7803569 = (MATCH) weight(nameTokens:microsoft^5.0 in 209), product of:  
0.3494771 = queryWeight(nameTokens:microsoft^5.0), product of:  
5.0 = boost  
5.0943446 = idf(docFreq=16, maxDocs=1020)  
0.013720199 = queryNorm  
5.0943446 = (MATCH) fieldWeight(nameTokens:microsoft in 209), product  
of:  
1.0 = tf(termFreq(nameTokens:microsoft)=1)  
5.0943446 = idf(docFreq=16, maxDocs=1020)  
1.0 = fieldNorm(field=nameTokens, doc=209)  
0.5 = coord(1/2)

For 2nd query:

2.5471714 = (MATCH) product of:  
5.0943427 = (MATCH) sum of:  
5.0943427 = (MATCH) weight(nameTokens:microsoft^\*15625.0 \*in 209),  
product of:  
0.99999964 = queryWeight(nameTokens:microsoft^_15625.0_), product of:  
15625.0 = boost  
5.0943446 = idf(docFreq=16, maxDocs=1020)  
1.2562947E-5 = queryNorm  
5.0943446 = (MATCH) fieldWeight(nameTokens:microsoft in 209), product  
of:  
1.0 = tf(termFreq(nameTokens:microsoft)=1)  
5.0943446 = idf(docFreq=16, maxDocs=1020)  
1.0 = fieldNorm(field=nameTokens, doc=209)  
0.5 = coord(1/2)

0.0029293338 = (MATCH) product of:  
0.0058586677 = (MATCH) sum of:  
0.0058586677 = (MATCH) weight(companyDomain:insideview.com^10.0 in  
223), product of:  
8.5791684E-4 = queryWeight(companyDomain:insideview.com^10.0),  
product of:  
10.0 = boost  
6.8289456 = idf(docFreq=2, maxDocs=1020)  
1.2562947E-5 = queryNorm  
6.8289456 = (MATCH) fieldWeight(companyDomain:insideview.com in 223),  
product of:  
1.0 = tf(termFreq(companyDomain:insideview.com)=1)  
6.8289456 = idf(docFreq=2, maxDocs=1020)  
1.0 = fieldNorm(field=companyDomain, doc=223)  
0.5 = coord(1/2)

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<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 6, 2017, 2:56am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/issues-with-scoring-and-query-boost/10293/3 "2017-07-06T02:56:54Z")

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