Attributes in request scope are available to any
jsp page or servlet that are part of the specific request chain. For instance, if I made a GET request to servlet1, which forwarded to servlet2, which forwarded to jsp3, etc... attributes put in request scope in servlet1 would be available in jsp3 as well.
Attributes in page scope are accessible only within the specific JSP page and is destroyed when the page has finished generating its output for the request. Page scope is usually used with custom tags, and it is a way to pass data from the jsp page to the custom tag.
“Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning.” - Rich Cook