Monotone Approximate Query Processing
Jane J. Liu · 1992
This project was concerned with means to provide approximate answers to queries. The researchers developed a monotone query processing scheme. This scheme allows a data base system to provide for each a series of intermediate answers that are approximations of the exact answer. The approximate answers improve monotonically in accuracy as more data are retrieved and processed to answer the query. If for any reason query processing must be terminated prematurely before the exact answer is produced, the latest intermediate answer, that is, the best approximate answer produced so far, is made available to the application. For many time-critical applications, a timely approximate answer that is sufficiently good is better than no answer at all or the late exact answer.