Various aspects of the subject technology relate to methods, systems, and machine-readable media for generating histograms according to a set-theoretic approach. The method includes receiving a command to generate at least one histogram from selected data, the selected data comprising a plurality of column groups. The method also includes identifying a superset from the plurality of column groups. The method also includes materializing, in a memory, a superset multi-column group for the superset. The method also includes identifying at least one subset of the superset from the plurality of column groups, the at least one subset comprising at least one column group. The method also includes processing the at least one subset of the superset to form a grouped resultset. The method also includes generating the at least one histogram for the grouped resultset of the at least one subset of the superset.