Relational Algebra

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

● Relational Model Concepts
● Relational Model Constraints and Relational
Database Schemas
● Update Operations and Dealing with Constraint
Violations

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 5-2

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Relational Model Concepts
● The relational Model of Data is based on the
concept of a Relation.

● A Relation is a mathematical concept based

on the ideas of sets.

● The strength of the relational approach to

data management comes from the formal
foundation provided by the theory of relations.

● We review the essentials of the relational

approach in this chapter.
Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 5-3
Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Relational Model Concepts
● The model was first proposed by Dr. E.F.
Codd of IBM in 1970 in the following paper:
"A Relational Model for Large Shared Data
Banks," Communications of the ACM, June
1970.

The above paper caused a major revolution in the

field of Database management and earned Ted Codd
the coveted ACM Turing Award.

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 5-4

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 INFORMAL DEFINITIONS
● RELATION: A table of values

– A relation may be thought of as a set of rows.

– A relation may alternately be though of as a set of columns.
– Each row represents a fact that corresponds to a real-world entity or
relationship.
– Each row has a value of an item or set of items that uniquely identifies
that row in the table.
– Sometimes row-ids or sequential numbers are assigned to identify the
rows in the table.
– Each column typically is called by its column name or column header
or attribute name.

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 5-5

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 FORMAL DEFINITIONS
● A Relation may be defined in multiple ways.
● The Schema of a Relation: R (A1, A2, .....An)
Relation schema R is defined over attributes A1, A2,
.....An
For Example -
CUSTOMER (Cust-id, Cust-name, Address, Phone#)

Here, CUSTOMER is a relation defined over the four

attributes Cust-id, Cust-name, Address, Phone#, each
of which has a domain or a set of valid values. For
example, the domain of Cust-id is 6 digit numbers.

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 5-6

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 FORMAL DEFINITIONS
● A tuple is an ordered set of values
● Each value is derived from an appropriate domain.
● Each row in the CUSTOMER table may be referred to
as a tuple in the table and would consist of four values.
● <632895, "John Smith", "101 Main St. Atlanta, GA 30332", "(404) 894-2000">
is a tuple belonging to the CUSTOMER relation.
● A relation may be regarded as a set of tuples (rows).
● Columns in a table are also called attributes of the
relation.

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 5-7

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 FORMAL DEFINITIONS
● A domain has a logical definition: e.g.,
“USA_phone_numbers” are the set of 10 digit phone
numbers valid in the U.S.
● A domain may have a data-type or a format defined for
it. The USA_phone_numbers may have a format:
(ddd)-ddd-dddd where each d is a decimal digit. E.g.,
Dates have various formats such as monthname, date,
year or yyyy-mm-dd, or dd mm,yyyy etc.
● An attribute designates the role played by the domain.
E.g., the domain Date may be used to define attributes
“Invoice-date” and “Payment-date”.

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 5-8

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 FORMAL DEFINITIONS
● The relation is formed over the cartesian product of the sets; each
set has values from a domain; that domain is used in a specific role
which is conveyed by the attribute name.
● For example, attribute Cust-name is defined over the domain of
strings of 25 characters. The role these strings play in the
CUSTOMER relation is that of the name of customers.
● Formally,
Given R(A1, A2, .........., An)
r(R) ⊂ dom (A1) X dom (A2) X ....X dom(An)
● R: schema of the relation
● r of R: a specific "value" or population of R.
● R is also called the intension of a relation
● r is also called the extension of a relation

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 5-9

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 DEFINITION SUMMARY

Informal Terms Formal Terms

Table Relation
Column Attribute/Domain
Row Tuple
Values in a column Domain
Table Definition Schema of a Relation
Populated Table Extension
Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 5-10
Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Example - Figure 5.1

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 5-11

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 CHARACTERISTICS OF RELATIONS
● Ordering of tuples in a relation r(R): The tuples are
not considered to be ordered, even though they
appear to be in the tabular form.
● Ordering of attributes in a relation schema R (and
of values within each tuple): We will consider the
attributes in R(A1, A2, ..., An) and the values in t=<v1,
v2, ..., vn> to be ordered .
(However, a more general alternative definition of
relation does not require this ordering).
● Values in a tuple: All values are considered atomic
(indivisible). A special null value is used to represent
values that are unknown or inapplicable to certain
tuples.

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 5-12

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 CHARACTERISTICS OF RELATIONS

● Notation:
- We refer to component values of a
tuple t by t[Ai] = vi (the value of attribute
Ai for tuple t).
Similarly, t[Au, Av, ..., Aw] refers to the
subtuple of t containing the values of
attributes Au, Av, ..., Aw, respectively.

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 5-13

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
CHARACTERISTICS OF RELATIONS-
Figure 5.2

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 5-14

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Relational Integrity Constraints

● Constraints are conditions that must

hold on all valid relation instances.
There are three main types of
constraints:
1. Key constraints
2. Entity integrity constraints
3. Referential integrity constraints

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 5-15

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Key Constraints
● Superkey of R: A set of attributes SK of R such that
no two tuples in any valid relation instance r(R) will
have the same value for SK. That is, for any
distinct tuples t1 and t2 in r(R), t1[SK] ≠ t2[SK].
● Key of R: A "minimal" superkey; that is, a superkey
K such that removal of any attribute from K results
in a set of attributes that is not a superkey.
Example: The CAR relation schema:
CAR(State, Reg#, SerialNo, Make, Model, Year)
has two keys Key1 = {State, Reg#}, Key2 = {SerialNo}, which are
also superkeys. {SerialNo, Make} is a superkey but not a key.
● If a relation has several candidate keys, one is
chosen arbitrarily to be the primary key. The
primary key attributes are underlined.
Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 5-16
Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Key Constraints
5.4

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 5-17

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Entity Integrity
● Relational Database Schema: A set S of relation
schemas that belong to the same database. S is the
name of the database.
S = {R1, R2, ..., Rn}
● Entity Integrity: The primary key attributes PK of
each relation schema R in S cannot have null values
in any tuple of r(R). This is because primary key
values are used to identify the individual tuples.
t[PK] ≠ null for any tuple t in r(R)
● Note: Other attributes of R may be similarly
constrained to disallow null values, even though they
are not members of the primary key.

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 5-18

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Referential Integrity
● A constraint involving two relations (the previous
constraints involve a single relation).
● Used to specify a relationship among tuples in two
relations: the referencing relation and the
referenced relation.
● Tuples in the referencing relation R1 have attributes
FK (called foreign key attributes) that reference the
primary key attributes PK of the referenced relation
R2. A tuple t1 in R1 is said to reference a tuple t2 in R2
if t1[FK] = t2[PK].
● A referential integrity constraint can be displayed in a
relational database schema as a directed arc from
R1.FK to R2.

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 5-19

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Referential Integrity
Constraint

Statement of the constraint

The value in the foreign key column (or
columns) FK of the the referencing
relation R1 can be either:
(1) a value of an existing primary key value
of the corresponding primary key PK in the
referenced relation R2,, or..
(2) a null.
In case (2), the FK in R1 should not be a part of
its own primary key.
Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 5-20
Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Other Types of Constraints
Semantic Integrity Constraints:
- based on application semantics and
cannot be expressed by the model per
se
- E.g., “the max. no. of hours per
employee for all projects he or she
works on is 56 hrs per week”
- A constraint specification language may
have to be used to express these
- SQL-99 allows triggers and
ASSERTIONS to allow
Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals for
of Database some
Systems, of Chapter 5-21
Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 5.5

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 5-22

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 5.6

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 5-23

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 5.7

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 5-24

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Update Operations on Relations
● INSERT a tuple.
● DELETE a tuple.
● MODIFY a tuple.

● Integrity constraints should not be violated by the

update operations.
● Several update operations may have to be grouped
together.
● Updates may propagate to cause other updates
automatically. This may be necessary to maintain
integrity constraints.

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 5-25

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Update Operations on Relations
● In case of integrity violation, several actions
can be taken:
– Cancel the operation that causes the violation (REJECT
option)
– Perform the operation but inform the user of the
violation
– Trigger additional updates so the violation is corrected
(CASCADE option, SET NULL option)
– Execute a user-specified error-correction routine

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 5-26

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 In-Class Exercise
(Taken from Exercise 5.15)
Consider the following relations for a database that keeps
track of student enrollment in courses and the books adopted
for each course:
STUDENT(SSN, Name, Major, Bdate)
COURSE(Course#, Cname, Dept)
ENROLL(SSN, Course#, Quarter, Grade)
BOOK_ADOPTION(Course#, Quarter, Book_ISBN)
TEXT(Book_ISBN, Book_Title, Publisher, Author)
Draw a relational schema diagram specifying the foreign
keys for this schema.

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 5-27

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Chapter Outline
● Example Database Application (COMPANY)
● Relational Algebra
– Unary Relational Operations
– Relational Algebra Operations From Set Theory
– Binary Relational Operations
– Additional Relational Operations
– Examples of Queries in Relational Algebra
● Relational Calculus
– Tuple Relational Calculus
– Domain Relational Calculus

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 6-28

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Database State for COMPANY
All examples discussed below refer to the COMPANY database shown here.

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 6-29

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
● ER-to-Relational Mapping Algorithm

Step 1: Mapping of Regular Entity Types

Step 2: Mapping of Weak Entity Types
Step 3: Mapping of Binary 1:1 Relation Types

Step 4: Mapping of Binary 1:N Relationship Types.

Step 5: Mapping of Binary M:N Relationship Types.

Step 6: Mapping of Multivalued attributes.

Step 7: Mapping of N-ary Relationship Types.

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 7-30

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 ER-to-Relational Mapping
Algorithm
● Step 1: Mapping of Regular Entity Types.

– For each regular (strong) entity type E in the ER schema, create a

relation R that includes all the simple attributes of E.
– Choose one of the key attributes of E as the primary key for R. If the
chosen key of E is composite, the set of simple attributes that form it
will together form the primary key of R.

Example: We create the relations EMPLOYEE, DEPARTMENT, and

PROJECT in the relational schema corresponding to the regular entities
in the ER diagram. SSN, DNUMBER, and PNUMBER are the primary
keys for the relations EMPLOYEE, DEPARTMENT, and PROJECT as
shown.

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 7-31

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
FIGURE 7.1
The ER
conceptual
schema
diagram for
the
COMPANY
database.

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 7-32

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
FIGURE 7.2
Result of
mapping the
COMPANY
ER schema
into a
relational
schema.

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 7-33

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 ER-to-Relational Mapping
Algorithm (cont)
● Step 2: Mapping of Weak Entity Types

– For each weak entity type W in the ER schema with owner entity type
E, create a relation R and include all simple attributes (or simple
components of composite attributes) of W as attributes of R.
– In addition, include as foreign key attributes of R the primary key
attribute(s) of the relation(s) that correspond to the owner entity type(s).
– The primary key of R is the combination of the primary key(s) of the
owner(s) and the partial key of the weak entity type W, if any.

Example: Create the relation DEPENDENT in this step to correspond

to the weak entity type DEPENDENT. Include the primary key SSN of
the EMPLOYEE relation as a foreign key attribute of DEPENDENT
(renamed to ESSN).
The primary key of the DEPENDENT relation is the combination
{ESSN, DEPENDENT_NAME} because DEPENDENT_NAME is the
partial key of DEPENDENT.
Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 7-34
Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 ER-to-Relational Mapping
Algorithm (cont)
● Step 3: Mapping of Binary 1:1 Relation Types
For each binary 1:1 relationship type R in the ER schema, identify the
relations S and T that correspond to the entity types participating in R.
There are three possible approaches:
(1) Foreign Key approach: Choose one of the relations-S, say-and include a foreign key in
S the primary key of T. It is better to choose an entity type with total participation in R in
the role of S.
Example: 1:1 relation MANAGES is mapped by choosing the participating entity type
DEPARTMENT to serve in the role of S, because its participation in the MANAGES
relationship type is total.

(2) Merged relation option: An alternate mapping of a 1:1 relationship type is possible by
merging the two entity types and the relationship into a single relation. This may be
appropriate when both participations are total.

(3) Cross-reference or relationship relation option: The third alternative is to set up a third
relation R for the purpose of cross-referencing the primary keys of the two relations S and
T representing the entity types.

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 7-35

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 ER-to-Relational Mapping
Algorithm (cont)
● Step 4: Mapping of Binary 1:N Relationship Types.

– For each regular binary 1:N relationship type R, identify the relation S
that represent the participating entity type at the N-side of the
relationship type.
– Include as foreign key in S the primary key of the relation T that
represents the other entity type participating in R.
– Include any simple attributes of the 1:N relation type as attributes of S.

Example: 1:N relationship types WORKS_FOR, CONTROLS, and

SUPERVISION in the figure. For WORKS_FOR we include the
primary key DNUMBER of the DEPARTMENT relation as foreign key
in the EMPLOYEE relation and call it DNO.

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 7-36

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 ER-to-Relational Mapping
Algorithm (cont)
● Step 5: Mapping of Binary M:N Relationship Types.

– For each regular binary M:N relationship type R, create a new relation S to
represent R.
– Include as foreign key attributes in S the primary keys of the relations that
represent the participating entity types; their combination will form the
primary key of S.
– Also include any simple attributes of the M:N relationship type (or simple
components of composite attributes) as attributes of S.

Example: The M:N relationship type WORKS_ON from the ER diagram

is mapped by creating a relation WORKS_ON in the relational database
schema. The primary keys of the PROJECT and EMPLOYEE relations are
included as foreign keys in WORKS_ON and renamed PNO and ESSN,
respectively.
Attribute HOURS in WORKS_ON represents the HOURS attribute of the
relation type. The primary key of the WORKS_ON relation is the
combination of the foreign key attributes {ESSN, PNO}.
Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 7-37
Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 ER-to-Relational Mapping
Algorithm (cont)
● Step 6: Mapping of Multivalued attributes.

– For each multivalued attribute A, create a new relation R. This relation R

will include an attribute corresponding to A, plus the primary key attribute
K-as a foreign key in R-of the relation that represents the entity type of
relationship type that has A as an attribute.
– The primary key of R is the combination of A and K. If the multivalued
attribute is composite, we include its simple components.

Example: The relation DEPT_LOCATIONS is created. The attribute

DLOCATION represents the multivalued attribute LOCATIONS of
DEPARTMENT, while DNUMBER-as foreign key-represents the primary
key of the DEPARTMENT relation. The primary key of R is the
combination of {DNUMBER, DLOCATION}.

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 7-38

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 ER-to-Relational Mapping
Algorithm (cont)
● Step 7: Mapping of N-ary Relationship Types.
– For each n-ary relationship type R, where n>2, create a new
relationship S to represent R.
– Include as foreign key attributes in S the primary keys of the
relations that represent the participating entity types.
– Also include any simple attributes of the n-ary relationship
type (or simple components of composite attributes) as
attributes of S.
Example: The relationship type SUPPY in the ER below. This can be
mapped to the relation SUPPLY shown in the relational schema, whose
primary key is the combination of the three foreign keys {SNAME,
PARTNO, PROJNAME}

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 7-39

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
FIGURE 4.11
Ternary relationship types. (a) The SUPPLY
relationship.

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 7-40

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
FIGURE 7.3
Mapping the n-ary relationship type SUPPLY
from Figure 4.11a.

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 7-41

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Summary of Mapping constructs
and constraints

Table 7.1 Correspondence between ER and Relational Models

ER Model Relational Model

Entity type “Entity” relation
1:1 or 1:N relationship type Foreign key (or “relationship” relation)
M:N relationship type “Relationship” relation and two foreign keys
n-ary relationship type “Relationship” relation and n foreign keys
Simple attribute Attribute
Composite attribute Set of simple component attributes
Multivalued attribute Relation and foreign key
Value set Domain
Key attribute Primary (or secondary) key

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 7-42

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Relational Algebra
● The basic set of operations for the relational model is known
as the relational algebra. These operations enable a user to
specify basic retrieval requests.

● The result of a retrieval is a new relation, which may have

been formed from one or more relations. The algebra
operations thus produce new relations, which can be further
manipulated using operations of the same algebra.

● A sequence of relational algebra operations forms a

relational algebra expression, whose result will also be a
relation that represents the result of a database query (or
retrieval request).

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 6-43

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Unary Relational Operations
● SELECT Operation
SELECT operation is used to select a subset of the tuples from a relation that
satisfy a selection condition. It is a filter that keeps only those tuples that
satisfy a qualifying condition – those satisfying the condition are selected
while others are discarded.
Example: To select the EMPLOYEE tuples whose department number is
four or those whose salary is greater than $30,000 the following notation is
used:
σDNO = 4 (EMPLOYEE)
σSALARY > 30,000 (EMPLOYEE)
In general, the select operation is denoted by σ <selection condition>(R) where the
symbol σ (sigma) is used to denote the select operator, and the selection
condition is a Boolean expression specified on the attributes of relation R

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 6-44

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Unary Relational Operations
SELECT Operation Properties
– The SELECT operation σ <selection condition>(R) produces a relation S that
has the same schema as R

– The SELECT operation σ is commutative; i.e.,

● σ <condition1>(σ < condition2> ( R)) = σ <condition2> (σ < condition1> ( R))

– A cascaded SELECT operation may be applied in any order; i.e.,

● σ <condition1>(σ < condition2> (σ <condition3> ( R))
● = σ <condition2> (σ < condition3> (σ < condition1> ( R)))

– A cascaded SELECT operation may be replaced by a single selection

with a conjunction of all the conditions; i.e.,
● σ <condition1>(σ < condition2> (σ <condition3> ( R))
● = σ <condition1> AND < condition2> AND < condition3> ( R)))

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 6-45

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Unary Relational Operations (cont.)

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 6-46

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Unary Relational Operations (cont.)
● PROJECT Operation
This operation selects certain columns from the table and discards the other
columns. The PROJECT creates a vertical partitioning – one with the needed
columns (attributes) containing results of the operation and other containing
the discarded Columns.
Example: To list each employee’s first and last name and salary, the
following is used:
π LNAME, FNAME,SALARY
(EMPLOYEE)

π
The general form of the project operation is <attribute list>(R) where π
(pi) is the symbol used to represent the project operation and <attribute list>
is the desired list of attributes from the attributes of relation R.
The project operation removes any duplicate tuples, so the result of the
project operation is a set of tuples and hence a valid relation.

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 6-47

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Unary Relational Operations (cont.)
PROJECT Operation Properties

– The number of tuples in the result of projection π <list>

(R)is always
less or equal to the number of tuples in R.

– If the list of attributes includes a key of R, then the number of tuples is

equal to the number of tuples in R.

– π (π <list2> (R) ) = π
<list1> <list1>
(R) as long as <list2> contains
the attributes in <list2>

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 6-48

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Unary Relational Operations (cont.)

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 6-49

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Unary Relational Operations (cont.)
● Rename Operation
We may want to apply several relational algebra operations one after the other.
Either we can write the operations as a single relational algebra expression
by nesting the operations, or we can apply one operation at a time and create
intermediate result relations. In the latter case, we must give names to the
relations that hold the intermediate results.
Example: To retrieve the first name, last name, and salary of all employees
who work in department number 5, we must apply a select and a project
operation. We can write a single relational algebra expression as follows:

πFNAME, LNAME, SALARY(σ DNO=5(EMPLOYEE))

OR We can explicitly show the sequence of operations, giving a name to each
intermediate relation:
DEP5_EMPS ← σ DNO=5(EMPLOYEE)
RESULT ← π FNAME, LNAME, SALARY (DEP5_EMPS)

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 6-50

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Unary Relational Operations (cont.)
● Rename Operation (cont.)
The rename operator is ρ

The general Rename operation can be expressed by any of the

following forms:

− ρ S (B1, B2, …, Bn ) ( R) is a renamed relation S based on R with column names B1, B1,

…..Bn.

− ρ S ( R) is a renamed relation S based on R (which does not specify column names).

− ρ (B1, B2, …, Bn ) ( R) is a renamed relation with column names B1, B1, …..Bn which does

not specify a new relation name.

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 6-51

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Unary Relational Operations (cont.)

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 6-52

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Relational Algebra Operations From
Set Theory
● UNION Operation
The result of this operation, denoted by R ∪ S, is a relation that includes all
tuples that are either in R or in S or in both R and S. Duplicate tuples are
eliminated.
Example: To retrieve the social security numbers of all employees who either
work in department 5 or directly supervise an employee who works in
department 5, we can use the union operation as follows:
DEP5_EMPS ← σDNO=5 (EMPLOYEE)
RESULT1 ← π SSN(DEP5_EMPS)
RESULT2(SSN) ← π SUPERSSN(DEP5_EMPS)
RESULT ← RESULT1 ∪ RESULT2
The union operation produces the tuples that are in either RESULT1 or
RESULT2 or both. The two operands must be “type compatible”.

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 6-53

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Relational Algebra Operations From
Set Theory
● Type Compatibility
– The operand relations R1(A1, A2, ..., An) and R2(B1, B2, ..., Bn)
must have the same number of attributes, and the domains of
corresponding attributes must be compatible; that is,
dom(Ai)=dom(Bi) for i=1, 2, ..., n.

– The resulting relation for R1∪R2,R1 ∩ R2, or R1-R2 has the

same attribute names as the first operand relation R1 (by
convention).

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 6-54

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Relational Algebra Operations From
Set Theory
● UNION Example

STUDENT∪INSTRUCTOR

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 6-55

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Relational Algebra Operations From Set
Theory (cont.) – use Fig. 6.4

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 6-56

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Relational Algebra Operations From Set
Theory (cont.)
● INTERSECTION OPERATION
The result of this operation, denoted by R ∩ S, is a relation that includes all
tuples that are in both R and S. The two operands must be "type compatible"

Example: The result of the intersection operation (figure below) includes only
those who are both students and instructors.

STUDENT ∩ INSTRUCTOR

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 6-57

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Relational Algebra Operations From Set
Theory (cont.)
● Set Difference (or MINUS) Operation
The result of this operation, denoted by R - S, is a relation that includes all
tuples that are in R but not in S. The two operands must be "type compatible”.

Example: The figure shows the names of students who are not instructors, and
the names of instructors who are not students.

STUDENT-INSTRUCTOR

INSTRUCTOR-STUDENT

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 6-58

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Relational Algebra Operations From Set
Theory (cont.)
● Notice that both union and intersection are commutative
operations; that is
R ∪ S = S ∪ R, and R ∩ S = S ∩ R

● Both union and intersection can be treated as n-ary operations

applicable to any number of relations as both are associative
operations; that is
R ∪ (S ∪ T) = (R ∪ S) ∪ T, and (R ∩ S) ∩ T = R ∩ (S ∩ T)

● The minus operation is not commutative; that is, in general

R-S≠S–R

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 6-59

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Relational Algebra Operations From Set
Theory (cont.)
● CARTESIAN (or cross product) Operation
– This operation is used to combine tuples from two relations in a
combinatorial fashion. In general, the result of R(A1, A2, . . ., An) x S(B1,
B2, . . ., Bm) is a relation Q with degree n + m attributes Q(A1, A2, . . ., An,
B1, B2, . . ., Bm), in that order. The resulting relation Q has one tuple for
each combination of tuples—one from R and one from S.
– Hence, if R has nR tuples (denoted as |R| = nR ), and S has nS tuples, then
| R x S | will have nR * nS tuples.
– The two operands do NOT have to be "type compatible”
Example:
FEMALE_EMPS ← σ SEX=’F’(EMPLOYEE)
EMPNAMES ← π FNAME, LNAME, SSN (FEMALE_EMPS)

EMP_DEPENDENTS ← EMPNAMES x DEPENDENT

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 6-60

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Relational Algebra Operations From Set
Theory (cont.)

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 6-61

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Binary Relational Operations
● JOIN Operation
– The sequence of cartesian product followed by select is used
quite commonly to identify and select related tuples from two
relations, a special operation, called JOIN. It is denoted by a
– This operation is very important for any relational database
with more than a single relation, because it allows us to process
relationships among relations.
– The general form of a join operation on two relations R(A1, A2,
. . ., An) and S(B1, B2, . . ., Bm) is:
R <join condition>S
where R and S can be any relations that result from general
relational algebra expressions.

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 6-62

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Binary Relational Operations (cont.)
Example: Suppose that we want to retrieve the name of
the manager of each department. To get the manager’s
name, we need to combine each DEPARTMENT tuple
with the EMPLOYEE tuple whose SSN value matches
the MGRSSN value in the department tuple. We do this
by using the join operation.
DEPT_MGR ← DEPARTMENT MGRSSN=SSN
EMPLOYEE

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 6-63

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Binary Relational Operations (cont.)
● EQUIJOIN Operation
The most common use of join involves join conditions with equality comparisons only.
Such a join, where the only comparison operator used is =, is called an EQUIJOIN. In
the result of an EQUIJOIN we always have one or more pairs of attributes (whose
names need not be identical) that have identical values in every tuple.
The JOIN seen in the previous example was EQUIJOIN.

● NATURAL JOIN Operation

Because one of each pair of attributes with identical values is superfluous, a new
operation called natural join—denoted by *—was created to get rid of the second
(superfluous) attribute in an EQUIJOIN condition.
The standard definition of natural join requires that the two join attributes, or each pair
of corresponding join attributes, have the same name in both relations. If this is not the
case, a renaming operation is applied first.

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 6-64

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Binary Relational Operations (cont.)
Example: To apply a natural join on the DNUMBER attributes of
DEPARTMENT and DEPT_LOCATIONS, it is sufficient to write:
DEPT_LOCS ← DEPARTMENT * DEPT_LOCATIONS

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 6-65

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Complete Set of Relational Operations

● The set of operations including select σ,

project π , union ∪, set difference - , and
cartesian product X is called a complete set
because any other relational algebra expression
can be expressed by a combination of these five
operations.
● For example:
R ∩ S = (R ∪ S ) – ((R − S) ∪ (S − R))
R <join condition>S = σ <join condition> (R X S)
Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 6-66
Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Binary Relational Operations (cont.)

● DIVISION Operation
– The division operation is applied to two relations
R(Z) ÷ S(X), where X subset Z. Let Y = Z - X (and hence Z
= X ∪ Y); that is, let Y be the set of attributes of R that are
not attributes of S.
– The result of DIVISION is a relation T(Y) that includes a
tuple t if tuples tR appear in R with tR [Y] = t, and with
tR [X] = ts for every tuple ts in S.
– For a tuple t to appear in the result T of the DIVISION, the
values in t must appear in R in combination with every tuple
in S.
Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 6-67
Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Binary Relational Operations (cont.)

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 6-68

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Recap of Relational Algebra Operations

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 6-69

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Additional Relational Operations

● Aggregate Functions and Grouping

– A type of request that cannot be expressed in the basic relational algebra
is to specify mathematical aggregate functions on collections of values
from the database.

– Examples of such functions include retrieving the average or total salary

of all employees or the total number of employee tuples. These functions
are used in simple statistical queries that summarize information from
the database tuples.

– Common functions applied to collections of numeric values include

SUM, AVERAGE, MAXIMUM, and MINIMUM. The COUNT function
is used for counting tuples or values.

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 6-70

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Additional Relational Operations (cont.)

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 6-71

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Additional Relational Operations (cont.)

Use of the Functional operator ℱ

ℱMAX Salary (Employee) retrieves the maximum salary value from

the Employee relation

ℱMIN Salary (Employee) retrieves the minimum Salary value from

the Employee relation
ℱSUM Salary (Employee) retrieves the sum of the Salary from the
Employee relation

DNO
ℱCOUNT SSN, AVERAGE Salary (Employee) groups employees by
DNO (department number) and computes the count of
employees and average salary per department.[ Note: count
just counts the number of rows, without removing duplicates]

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 6-72

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Additional Relational Operations (cont.)
● Recursive Closure Operations
– Another type of operation that, in general, cannot be specified in the
basic original relational algebra is recursive closure. This operation is
applied to a recursive relationship.
– An example of a recursive operation is to retrieve all SUPERVISEES of
an EMPLOYEE e at all levels—that is, all EMPLOYEE e’ directly
supervised by e; all employees e’’ directly supervised by each employee
e’; all employees e’’’ directly supervised by each employee e’’; and so
on .
– Although it is possible to retrieve employees at each level and then take
their union, we cannot, in general, specify a query such as “retrieve the
supervisees of ‘James Borg’ at all levels” without utilizing a looping
mechanism.
– The SQL3 standard includes syntax for recursive closure.

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 6-73

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Additional Relational Operations (cont.)

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 6-74

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Additional Relational Operations (cont.)
● The OUTER JOIN Operation
– In NATURAL JOIN tuples without a matching (or related) tuple are eliminated
from the join result. Tuples with null in the join attributes are also eliminated.
This amounts to loss of information.
– A set of operations, called outer joins, can be used when we want to keep all the
tuples in R, or all those in S, or all those in both relations in the result of the join,
regardless of whether or not they have matching tuples in the other relation.
– The left outer join operation keeps every tuple in the first or left relation R in R
S; if no matching tuple is found in S, then the attributes of S in the join result are
filled or “padded” with null values.
– A similar operation, right outer join, keeps every tuple in the second or right
relation S in the result of R S.
– A third operation, full outer join, denoted by keeps all tuples in both the
left and the right relations when no matching tuples are found, padding them
with null values as needed.

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 6-75

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Additional Relational Operations (cont.)

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 6-76

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Additional Relational Operations (cont.)
● OUTER UNION Operations
– The outer union operation was developed to take the union of tuples from two
relations if the relations are not union compatible.
– This operation will take the union of tuples in two relations R(X, Y) and S(X, Z)
that are partially compatible, meaning that only some of their attributes, say X,
are union compatible.
– The attributes that are union compatible are represented only once in the result,
and those attributes that are not union compatible from either relation are also kept
in the result relation T(X, Y, Z).
– Example: An outer union can be applied to two relations whose schemas are
STUDENT(Name, SSN, Department, Advisor) and INSTRUCTOR(Name, SSN,
Department, Rank). Tuples from the two relations are matched based on having
the same combination of values of the shared attributes—Name, SSN,
Department. If a student is also an instructor, both Advisor and Rank will have a
value; otherwise, one of these two attributes will be null.
The result relation STUDENT_OR_INSTRUCTOR will have the following
attributes:
STUDENT_OR_INSTRUCTOR (Name, SSN, Department, Advisor, Rank)
Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 6-77
Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Examples of Queries in Relational Algebra
● Q1: Retrieve the name and address of all employees who
work for the ‘Research’ department.
RESEARCH_DEPT ← σ DNAME=’Research’ (DEPARTMENT)
RESEARCH_EMPS ← (RESEARCH_DEPT DNUMBER=

DNOEMPLOYEE
EMPLOYEE)
RESULT ← π FNAME, LNAME, ADDRESS (RESEARCH_EMPS)

● Q6: Retrieve the names of employees who have no

dependents.
ALL_EMPS ← π SSN(EMPLOYEE)
EMPS_WITH_DEPS(SSN) ← π ESSN(DEPENDENT)
EMPS_WITHOUT_DEPS ← (ALL_EMPS - EMPS_WITH_DEPS)
RESULT ← π LNAME, FNAME (EMPS_WITHOUT_DEPS * EMPLOYEE)
Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 6-78
Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe