Great job with the article and an excellent example of how the same code will perform differently under various data loads.

Clearly, the answer "it depends" can be justified as you have so well done. If the answer is expanded on, as well as you have just done, it would be much more appreciated by T-SQL new comers.

Example:

___It depends, under conditions a... answer 1.

___Under conditions b... answer 2.

___...

This way the new comer will actually get the "best" answer they are looking for if one of the conditions and corresponding answer relates to their situation.

Dave