1. A computer readable storage medium, comprising executable instructions to: receive a request for data from a multi-dimensional cube divided into a plurality of partitions distributed across a plurality of nodes supporting a shared nothing distributed multi-dimensional database; transform the request into physical access layer operators in a tree structure; and reduce the tree structure into a first index scan operator at least in part by applying a set of transformation rules to the tree structure, wherein the set of transformation rules comprises a leaf transformation rule, wherein the leaf transformation rule provides for transformation of at least one leaf node into a second scan index operator, and a query transformation rule, wherein the query transformation rule provides for transformation of at least one axis node and at least the second scan index operator into the first scan index operator.