Partial-Sum Queries in OLAP Data Cubes Using Covering Codes

A partial-sum query obtains the summation over a set of specified cells of a data cube. We establish a connection between the covering problem in the theory of error-correcting codes and the partial-sum problem and use this connection to devise algorithms for the partial-sum problem with efficient space-time trade-offs. For example, using our algorithms, with 44 percent additional storage, the query response time can be improved by about 12 percent; by roughly doubling the storage requirement, the query response time can be improved by about 34 percent.