Oracle Express was a multi-dimensional database and application development environment for building OLAP applications. Normal relational databases store data in two-dimensional tables and analytical queries against them can be very slow.
Annuity Period: The length of time between income payments made under an annuity income plan; the time span may be monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, or annually. Arbitrage: The act of buying and selling commodities in two markets at the same time to benefit from price differences between the markets.
An annuity is essentially an investment contract with an insurance company, traditionally used for retirement purposes. The investor receives periodic payments from the insurance company as returns on the investment of premiums paid. There is an accumulation period when the premiums paid earn interest in accordance with the terms of the annuity contract, followed by a payout period.