Dickeson--The Analytical Power of OLAP

In contrast, OLAP is used by analysts and managers who frequently want a higher-level, aggregated view of the data. OLAP databases are optimized for analysis.

The data world of RDBMS is two-dimensional—like a flat spreadsheet. The MDBMS multidimensional world is a cube, three-dimensional—like a Rubik's Cube. With it you can drill up, down and across. The RDBMS data can become a "virtual" cube for OLAP inquiries with certain software, but with restricted speed and efficiency. Or the data can be stored as a true cube in a multidimensional server set of "arrays" that are interlinked by dictionaries and pointers.