Describe the OLAP operation slice and dice.

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## Slice and Dice (OLAP Operations)

Think of a data cube as a 3D box of numbers indexed along multiple dimensions (e.g., Time, Product, Region).

### Slice
Selects **one specific value** on one dimension, "cutting" a single 2D layer out of the cube.

```
        Product
       /|  /|  /|
      / | / | / |
     /__|/__|/__|
    |   |   |   |     <- Slice at Time = "2024"
Time|___|___|___|
    |   |   |   |
    |___|___|___|
        Region
```
Example: "Sales for **Time = 2024**" → gives a 2D Product × Region table.

### Dice
Selects a **sub-cube** by picking a range/subset of values on **two or more** dimensions simultaneously.

```
Full cube ──dice──▶  smaller cube
(Time × Product × Region)   (Time∈{2023,2024} × Product∈{A,B} × Region=West)
```
Example: "Sales where **Time ∈ {2023, 2024}** AND **Product ∈ {A, B}** AND **Region = West**."

### Key Difference
| Operation | Dimensions restricted | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Slice | 1 dimension fixed to a single value | One lower-dimension "layer" of the cube |
| Dice | 2+ dimensions restricted to ranges/subsets | A smaller sub-cube (same dimensionality) |

Both are used for interactive, ad-hoc drill-down analysis in OLAP tools without needing to re-query the source data.

Slice and Dice (OLAP Operations)

Slice

Dice

Key Difference

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