Estimating rows returned by recursive queries using fanout

A computer comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• memory communicatively connected to the processor, wherein the memory is encoded with instructions, and wherein the instructions when executed by the processor comprise
• receiving a recursive query that comprises a first select statement with a seed select statement and a second select statement with a recursive reference, and a third select statement, wherein the recursive query further identifies at least two columns in at least one table, wherein the at least two columns have parent-child relationships represented by nodes in a graph, wherein the graph represents an organization of values in rows in the at least one table,
• calculating a target recursion depth for the graph, wherein the calculating the target recursion depth further comprises calculating a logarithmic function of a fanout of the graph, a total number of rows in the at least one table, and a seed number of rows,
• estimating an estimated number of rows that the recursive query will return to a result set based on the target recursion depth, and
• selecting a selected query plan from among a plurality of query plans based the estimated number of rows.