In
statistics
Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a s ...
,
econometrics
Econometrics is an application of statistical methods to economic data in order to give empirical content to economic relationships. M. Hashem Pesaran (1987). "Econometrics", '' The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics'', v. 2, p. 8 p. 8 ...
and related fields, multidimensional analysis (MDA) is a
data analysis
Data analysis is the process of inspecting, Data cleansing, cleansing, Data transformation, transforming, and Data modeling, modeling data with the goal of discovering useful information, informing conclusions, and supporting decision-making. Da ...
process that groups data into two categories:
data dimensions and measurements. For example, a
data set
A data set (or dataset) is a collection of data. In the case of tabular data, a data set corresponds to one or more table (database), database tables, where every column (database), column of a table represents a particular Variable (computer sci ...
consisting of the number of wins for a single football team at each of several years is a single-dimensional (in this case, longitudinal) data set. A data set consisting of the number of wins for several football teams in a single year is also a single-dimensional (in this case, cross-sectional) data set. A data set consisting of the number of wins for several football teams over several years is a two-dimensional data set.
Higher dimensions
In many disciplines, two-dimensional data sets are also called
panel data
In statistics and econometrics, panel data and longitudinal data are both multi-dimensional data involving measurements over time. Panel data is a subset of longitudinal data where observations are for the same subjects each time.
Time series and ...
. While, strictly speaking, two- and higher-dimensional data sets are "multi-dimensional", the term "multidimensional" tends to be applied only to data sets with three or more dimensions.
For example, some forecast data sets provide forecasts for multiple target periods, conducted by multiple forecasters, and made at multiple horizons. The three dimensions provide more information than can be gleaned from two-dimensional panel data sets.
Software
Computer software for MDA include
Online analytical processing
In computing, online analytical processing (OLAP) (), is an approach to quickly answer multi-dimensional analytical (MDA) queries. The term ''OLAP'' was created as a slight modification of the traditional database term online transaction proces ...
(OLAP) for data in
relational database
A relational database (RDB) is a database based on the relational model of data, as proposed by E. F. Codd in 1970.
A Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) is a type of database management system that stores data in a structured for ...
s,
pivot table
A pivot table is a table of values which are aggregations of groups of individual values from a more extensive table (such as from a database, spreadsheet, or business intelligence program) within one or more discrete categories. The aggregatio ...
s for data in
spreadsheet
A spreadsheet is a computer application for computation, organization, analysis and storage of data in tabular form. Spreadsheets were developed as computerized analogs of paper accounting worksheets. The program operates on data entered in c ...
s, and
Array DBMSs
An array database management system or array DBMS provides database services specifically for arrays (also called raster data), that is: homogeneous collections of data items (often called pixels, voxels, etc.), sitting on a regular grid of one, ...
for general multi-dimensional data (such as
raster data
upright=1, The Smiley, smiley face in the top left corner is a raster image. When enlarged, individual pixels appear as squares. Enlarging further, each pixel can be analyzed, with their colors constructed through combination of the values for ...
) in science, engineering, and business.
See also
*
MultiDimensional eXpressions
Multidimensional Expressions (MDX) is a query language for online analytical processing (OLAP) using a database management system. Much like SQL, it is a query language for OLAP cubes. It is also a calculation language, with syntax similar to spre ...
(MDX)
*
Multidimensional panel data
In econometrics, a multidimensional panel data is data of a phenomenon observed over three or more dimensions. This comes in contrast with panel data, observed over two dimensions (typically, time and cross-sections). An example is a data set con ...
*
Multivariate statistics
Multivariate statistics is a subdivision of statistics encompassing the simultaneous observation and analysis of more than one outcome variable, i.e., '' multivariate random variables''.
Multivariate statistics concerns understanding the differ ...
*
Dimension (data warehouse)
A dimension is a structure that categorizes Fact (data warehouse), facts and Measure (data warehouse), measures in order to enable users to answer business questions. Commonly used dimensions are people, products, place and time. (Note: People an ...
*
Dimension tables
*
Data cube
In computer programming contexts, a data cube (or datacube) is a multi-dimensional ("n-D") array of values. Typically, the term data cube is applied in contexts where these arrays are massively larger than the hosting computer's main memory; exa ...
References
Dimension reduction
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