1. A computing device, comprising: one or more processors; and a memory having instructions stored thereon, which when executed by the one or more processors, cause the computing device to perform operations including: receiving an instruction to determine a specified quantile for a variate in a set of data stored at nodes in the distributed system; defining a number of data bins for the variate; defining a set of data bins for the variate using the number of data bins; identifying a specified data bin of the set of data bins that includes the specified quantile, wherein the specified data bin includes a specified lower quantile bound and a specified upper quantile bound; estimating the specified quantile based on the specified lower quantile bound and a specified upper quantile bound; determining a total number of data values in the specified data bin; comparing the total number of data values in the specified data bin with the number of data bins; determining that the total number of data values is less than the number of data bins; defining a set of sub data bins for the specified data bin, wherein: the sub data bins range from the specified lower quantile bound to the specified upper quantile bound, each of the sub data bins is associated with a different range of data values in the specified data bin, and the total number of sub data bins is equal to the total number of data values in the specified data bin; determining lower and upper sub quantile bounds for each of the sub data bins; identifying one of the sub data bins that includes the specified quantile based on the lower and upper sub quantile bounds; and determining the specified quantile based on the identified one of the sub data bins.