What does a cross join accomplish when multiple tables are brought into a query?

A cross join is a type of join that produces a Cartesian product of the two tables involved in the query. This means that each record from the first table is paired with every record from the second table. As a result, if the first table contains 'm' records and the second table contains 'n' records, the cross join will produce a total of m * n records in the resultant dataset.

This characteristic of cross joins is particularly useful in scenarios where you need to analyze the total combinations of records from two datasets without any filter or condition applied. For instance, if you are looking to see all possible combinations of products and customers for a marketing analysis, a cross join would provide a complete view of these combinations.

The other options describe functions that are characteristic of different types of joins or operations. For example, combining only matching records refers to an inner join, removing duplicates pertains to aggregation functions, and creating subsets based on conditions aligns with the functionality of a filtered join or a specific selection with conditions.