Patent ID: 7849075

Claim:
A method for processing data including: accepting first information characterizing values of a first field in records of a first data source, the first information including information summarizing a distribution of values of the first field, and second information characterizing values of a second field in records of a second data source, the second information including information summarizing a distribution of values of the second field; computing quantities characterizing a relationship between the first field and the second field based on the first accepted information and the second accepted information, including computing information characterizing a distribution of values in a join of the first data source and the second data source using the first field and the second field, respectively; and presenting information relating the first field and the second field, over at least one output device and/or port; wherein computing the information characterizing the distribution of values in the join of the first data source and the second data source includes combining the summarized distribution of the first accepted information and the summarized distribution of the second accepted information.