three tables relation order is correct but values are false

Question

i have those tables

     table1
|  id  |  name  |
|  1   |  axe   |
|  2   |  bow   |
|  3   |  car   |
|  4   |  dart  |


        table2                                        table3
|  t1_id  |  number  |                        |  t1_id  |  letter  |
|  1      |  5       |                        |  1      |  a       |
|  1      |  6       |                        |  1      |  b       |
|  1      |  2       |                        |  1      |  c       |
|  2      |  2       |                        |  2      |  a       |
|  2      |  2       |                        |  2      |  c       |
|  2      |  3       |                        |  2      |  r       |
|  3      |  8       |                        |  3      |  y       |
|  3      |  3       |                        |  3      |  i       |
|  3      |  1       |                        |  3      |  a       |
|  4      |  8       |                        |  4      |  a       |
|  4      |  9       |                        |  4      |  b       |
|  4      |  10      |                        |  4      |  c       |

and table1(id) is linked with table2(t1_id), table3(t1_id)

i run it to get them order by the highest letter_count match then by the highest average_number match to get this proper result http://www.sqlfiddle.com/#!9/69086b/8/0

SELECT 
  t1.id, 
  t1.name

FROM 
  table1 t1

INNER JOIN 
  table2 t2
    ON t2.t1_id = t1.id

LEFT JOIN 
  table3 t3
    ON t3.t1_id = t1.id
      AND t3.letter IN ('a', 'b', 'c')

GROUP BY
  t1.id

ORDER BY
  COUNT(t3.letter) DESC,
  AVG(t2.number) DESC

---

|  id  |  name  |
|  4   |  dart  |
|  1   |  axe   |
|  2   |  bow   |
|  3   |  car   |

and everything is working ok

---

but when i wanted to check if there is any problems with the query i decided to check the letter_count and avg_number so i used this query

SELECT 
  t1.id, 
  t1.name, 
  COUNT(t3.letter) AS letter_count, 
  AVG(t2.number) AS avg_number

FROM 
  table1 t1

INNER JOIN 
  table2 t2
    ON t2.t1_id = t1.id

LEFT JOIN 
  table3 t3
    ON t3.t1_id = t1.id
      AND t3.letter IN ('a', 'b', 'c')

GROUP BY
  t1.id

ORDER BY
  letter_count DESC,
  avg_number DESC

what i expected the result to be was

|  id  |  name  |  letter_count  |  avg_number   |
|  4   |  dart  |  3             |  9            |
|  1   |  axe   |  3             |  4.3333333333 |
|  2   |  bow   |  2             |  2.3333333333 |
|  3   |  car   |  1             |  4            |

but the result i got was http://www.sqlfiddle.com/#!9/69086b/3/0

|  id  |  name  |  letter_count  |  avg_number   |
|  4   |  dart  |  9             |  9            |
|  1   |  axe   |  9             |  4.3333333333 |
|  2   |  bow   |  6             |  2.3333333333 |
|  3   |  car   |  3             |  4            |

---

am i supposed to be worried on how the letter_count is multiplied three times on the future or does this just happens when i want to select the values and nothing bad is going to happen if i just kept it in ORDER BY?

---

i just want them to be ordered correctly which is what i got but checking the values showed me that letter_count is multiplied many times so i am confused about its performance or the letter_count can be ignored and the performance wont be affected?

Answer 1

It is common multiplying in multi-table source. Each record in table3 is joined to 3 (in above sample data, really it can differ, of course) records from table2.

If table3(t1_id,letter) is unique (by index) then COUNT(DISTINCT t3.letter) will help.

If not then the only solution is in calculate this COUNT() in subquery by table3 separately and join the result to table1.