What is an Algebra?

 A language based on operators and a domain of values

 Operators map values taken from the domain into other domain values
 Hence, an expression involving operators and arguments produces a value in the domain
 When the domain is a set of all relations (and the operators are as described later), we get
the relational algebra
 We refer to the expression as a query and the value produced as the query result

Relational Algebra
 Domain: set of relations
 Based on set theory
 Contains extensions to manipulate tables
 Functional language
 Procedural, i.e., order to operations, algorithm implicit in the functional evaluation

Relational Algebra Operations

Below are fundamental operations that are "complete". That is, this set of operations alone can
define any retrieval.

 Select
 Project
 Rename
 Union
 Set Difference
 Cartesian Product

Convenient, natural additions to the set of operations makes

 Set Intersection
 Natural Join
 Division
 Assignment

Relational Algebra
Relational algebra is a procedural query language, which takes instances of relations as input and
yields instances of relations as output. It uses operators to perform queries. An operator can be
either unary or binary. They accept relations as their input and yield relations as their output.
Relational algebra is performed recursively on a relation and intermediate results are also
considered relations.
The fundamental operations of relational algebra are as follows −

 Select
 Project
 Union
 Set different
 Cartesian product
 Rename

We will discuss all these operations in the following sections.

Select Operation (σ)

It selects tuples that satisfy the given predicate from a relation.

Notation − σp(r)

Where σ stands for selection predicate and r stands for relation. p is prepositional logic formula
which may use connectors like and, or, and not. These terms may use relational operators like −
=, ≠, ≥, < , >, ≤.

For example −

σsubject = "database" (Books)

Output − Selects tuples from books where subject is 'database'.

σsubject = "database" and price = "450" (Books)

Output − Selects tuples from books where subject is 'database' and 'price' is 450.
σsubject = "database" and price = "450" or year > "2010" (Books)

Output − Selects tuples from books where subject is 'database' and 'price' is 450 or those books
published after 2010.

Project Operation (∏)

It projects column(s) that satisfy a given predicate.

Notation − ∏A1, A2, An (r)

Where A1, A2 , An are attribute names of relation r.

Duplicate rows are automatically eliminated, as relation is a set.

For example −

∏subject, author (Books)

Selects and projects columns named as subject and author from the relation Books.

Union Operation (∪)

It performs binary union between two given relations and is defined as −

r ∪ s = { t | t ∈ r or t ∈ s}

Notion − r U s

Where r and s are either database relations or relation result set (temporary relation).

For a union operation to be valid, the following conditions must hold −

 r, and s must have the same number of attributes.

 Attribute domains must be compatible.
 Duplicate tuples are automatically eliminated.

∏ author (Books) ∪ ∏ author (Articles)

Output − Projects the names of the authors who have either written a book or an article or both.

Set Difference (−)

The result of set difference operation is tuples, which are present in one relation but are not in the
second relation.

Notation − r − s

Finds all the tuples that are present in r but not in s.

∏ author (Books) − ∏ author (Articles)

Output − Provides the name of authors who have written books but not articles.

Cartesian Product (Χ)

Combines information of two different relations into one.

Notation − r Χ s

Where r and s are relations and their output will be defined as −

r Χ s = { q t | q ∈ r and t ∈ s}

σauthor = 'tutorialspoint' (Books Χ Articles)

Output − Yields a relation, which shows all the books and articles written by tutorialspoint.

Rename Operation (ρ)

The results of relational algebra are also relations but without any name. The rename operation
allows us to rename the output relation. 'rename' operation is denoted with small Greek letter rho
ρ.

Notation − ρ x (E)

Where the result of expression E is saved with name of x.

Additional operations are −

 Set intersection
 Assignment
 Natural join

Relational Calculus
In contrast to Relational Algebra, Relational Calculus is a non-procedural query language, that is,
it tells what to do but never explains how to do it.
Relational calculus exists in two forms −

Tuple Relational Calculus (TRC)

Filtering variable ranges over tuples

Notation − {T | Condition}

Returns all tuples T that satisfies a condition.

For example −

{ T.name | Author(T) AND T.article = 'database' }

Output − Returns tuples with 'name' from Author who has written article on 'database'.

TRC can be quantified. We can use Existential (∃) and Universal Quantifiers (∀).

For example −

{ R| ∃T ∈ Authors(T.article='database' AND R.name=T.name)}

Output − The above query will yield the same result as the previous one.

Domain Relational Calculus (DRC)

In DRC, the filtering variable uses the domain of attributes instead of entire tuple values (as done
in TRC, mentioned above).

Notation −

{ a1, a2, a3, ..., an | P (a1, a2, a3, ... ,an)}

Where a1, a2 are attributes and P stands for formulae built by inner attributes.

For example −

{< article, page, subject > | ∈ TutorialsPoint ∧ subject = 'database'}

Output − Yields Article, Page, and Subject from the relation TutorialsPoint, where subject is
database.

Just like TRC, DRC can also be written using existential and universal quantifiers. DRC also
involves relational operators.
The expression power of Tuple Relation Calculus and Domain Relation Calculus is equivalent to
Relational Algebra.