>>If we were dealing with integers ( instead of numerics ) here, could we use BINTOC() to create the index and would it make it more compact/efficient?
>>
>BINTOC() would work; you want to expressly name a size for the BINTOC conversion, since a small initial value would result in too small a string, possible with the consequence of truncating large value keys and missorting.

Gotcha. Thanks for confirmation.