1. A method for use at a computer system, the computer system including one or more processors and system memory, the computer system connected to a plurality of compute nodes, a data partitioning algorithm defining how portions of a table are partitioned across the plurality of compute nodes, the method for optimizing a query of the table based on global statistics for a multi-value element of the table, the method comprising: receiving a query, the query expressing a logical intent for retrieving specified data from the table, the specified data distributed across at least two of the plurality of compute nodes; considering a plurality of different parallel query plans for implementing the expressed logical intent of the query; accessing the global statistics for the multi-value element from an optimization database, the global statistics having been formulated by: formulating a global probability distribution estimate for the multi-value element by merging probability distribution estimates for the multi-value element accessed from each of the plurality of compute nodes, the global probability distribution estimate including global steps defined by step boundaries, including for each global step: calculating a number of occurrences of an upper boundary value by adding the number of occurrences of upper boundary values across the probability distribution estimates; and calculating a global central tendency for a number of orthogonal multi-value elements per distinct value for the global step, the global central tendency calculated based on a probability that a particular distinct value appears at a particular node in view of the data partitioning algorithm, the orthogonal multi-value elements being orthogonal to the multi-value element within the table; and optimizing execution of the query by selecting a parallel query plan, from among the plurality of different parallel query plans, determined to perform better than other of the plurality of query plans in view of the accessed global statistics for the multi-value element.