Summarize Multidimensional Array in C# -

i trying find best (quickest) way summarize multidimensional array passed object.

for example if have object[,] data contains data similar to:

john,utah,huntsville,0120152,60 john,utah,huntsville,06122013,40 dallin,maryland,citytown,10202012,30 aaron,connecticut, harbourville,12122017,100 dallin,maryland,citytown,04232011,8 aaron,virginia,georgetown,02212013,200 

this passed object defined following:

string name, string state, string city, list<int> date, list<double> total 

so representation of data like:

dallin,maryland,citytown                           04232011, 8                          10202012, 30                            john,utah,huntsville,                      0120152, 60                     06122013,40 

i know fetch distinct items each column use , if statments, being new programming , having extremely large dataset bit worried how long take. , being multidimensional array makes difficult sort. on how approach problem appreciated.

do have have data in multidimensional array? if, example, structured data follows:

public class activity {     public int activitydate { get; get; }     public double activitytotal { get; set; } }  public class person {     public string name { get; set; }     public string state { get; set; }     public string city { get; set; }     public list<activity> { get; set; } } 

data entry type of structure should relatively easy, , have added benefit of simple sorting, summarization, etc via linq.

when "large" dataset... how large large?

edit:

fair enough... didn't realize didn't control how data loaded object.

that said, maybe domain object this:

public class person {     public string name { get; set; }     public string state { get; set; }     public string city { get; set; }     public list<int> date { get; set; }     public list<double> total { get; set; } } 

and extremely rough example of how convert data object class. note has absolutely nothing in way of error trapping or type validation:

list<person> p = new list<person>();  (int = 0; < data.length; i++) {     p.add(new person()     {         name = (string)data[i, 0],         state = (string)data[i, 1],         city = (string)data[i, 2],         date = (list<int>)data[i, 3],         total = (list<double>)data[i, 4]     }); }