System and method for query optimization using quantile values of a large unordered data set

摘要

A database management system determines, in a single pass over an unordered database, the quantile information. The system sequentially compares each tuple in the data set to a test value, and then selectively inserts the tuple in a test set having a cardinality less than the cardinality of the data set based upon the comparison. The system next uses the quantile information to estimate the number of tuples in the database which satisfy a user-defined predicate to generate an efficient query plan.