Patent ID: 7797320

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for presenting a view of data in a multidimensional database the method comprising: assigning aggregate measures of orthogonality to one or more combinations of two or more columns in the multidimensional database; wherein each aggregate measure of orthogonality indicates a measure of interdependence between values in a first column and values in one or more other columns; identifying a region of orthogonality in the multidimensional database, wherein, for one or more rows of the multidimensional database, values for a first set of one or more columns are not fully orthogonal in relation to values for a second set of one or more columns; wherein said region is a subset of rows, from the one or more rows, for which values of the first set of one or more columns are orthogonal to values of the second set of one or more columns; determining a view of data based at least upon said aggregate measures of orthogonality and said region of orthogonality, said determining including determining an orthogonal basis for the view; wherein said view is of a subset of data in the multidimensional database; wherein said orthogonal basis is one or more columns of the multidimensional database selected based on the aggregate measures of orthogonality and said region of orthogonality; and displaying said view of data.