It will depend on your PHP configuration and on how you're trying to access the variable in the destination page...
If you have register_globals off the variables will not immediately be available directly (e.g. $a or $b)
In general, it's safer to try using $HTTP_GET_VARS["a"] and $HTTP_GET_VARS["b"] although if you have a more recent version of PHP you can also use $_GET instead of $HTTP_GET_VARS - less typing ! 😃