Chapter 2: Intro to Relational Model

Database System Concepts, 7th Ed.

©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
See www.db-book.com for conditions on re-use
 Outline

▪ Structure of Relational Databases

▪ Database Schema
▪ Keys
▪ Schema Diagrams
▪ Relational Query Languages
▪ The Relational Algebra

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.2 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Example of a Instructor Relation

attributes
(or columns)

tuples
(or rows)

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 Relation Schema and Instance

▪ A1, A2, …, An are attributes

▪ R = (A1, A2, …, An ) is a relation schema
Example:
instructor = (ID, name, dept_name, salary)
▪ A relation instance r defined over schema R is denoted by r (R).
▪ The current values a relation are specified by a table
▪ An element t of relation r is called a tuple and is represented by a row
in a table

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.4 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Attributes

▪ The set of allowed values for each attribute is called the domain of the attribute
▪ Attribute values are (normally) required to be atomic; that is, indivisible
▪ The special value null is a member of every domain. Indicated that the value is
“unknown”
▪ The null value causes complications in the definition of many operations

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 Relations are Unordered

▪ Order of tuples is irrelevant (tuples may be stored in an arbitrary order)

▪ Example: instructor relation with unordered tuples

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 Database Schema

▪ Database schema -- is the logical structure of the database.

▪ Database instance -- is a snapshot of the data in the database at a given instant in
time.
▪ Example:
• schema: instructor (ID, name, dept_name, salary)
• Instance:

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.7 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Keys

▪ Let K ⊆ R
▪ K is a superkey of R if values for K are sufficient to identify a unique tuple of
each possible relation r(R)
• Example: {ID} and {ID,name} are both superkeys of instructor.
▪ Superkey K is a candidate key if K is minimal
Example: {ID} is a candidate key for Instructor
▪ One of the candidate keys is selected to be the primary key.
• Which one?
▪ Foreign key constraint: Value in one relation must appear in another
• Referencing relation
• Referenced relation
• Example: dept_name in instructor is a foreign key from instructor
referencing department

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 Schema Diagram for University Database

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 Relational Query Languages

▪ Procedural versus non-procedural, or declarative

▪ “Pure” languages:
• Relational algebra
• Tuple relational calculus
• Domain relational calculus
▪ The above 3 pure languages are equivalent in computing power
▪ We will concentrate in this chapter on relational algebra
• Not Turing-machine equivalent
• Consists of 6 basic operations

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.10 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Relational Algebra

▪ A procedural language consisting of a set of operations that take one or two

relations as input and produce a new relation as their result.
▪ Six basic operators
• select: σ
• project: ∏
• union: ∪
• set difference: –
• Cartesian product: x
• rename: ρ

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.11 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Select Operation

▪ The select operation selects tuples that satisfy a given predicate.

▪ Notation: σ p (r)
▪ p is called the selection predicate
▪ Example: select those tuples of the instructor relation where the instructor is in
the “Physics” department.
• Query
σ dept_name=“Physics” (instructor)
• Result

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 Select Operation (Cont.)

▪ We allow comparisons using

=, ≠, >, ≥. <. ≤
in the selection predicate.
▪ We can combine several predicates into a larger predicate by using the
connectives:
∧ (and), ∨ (or), ¬ (not)
▪ Example: Find the instructors in Physics with a salary greater $90,000, we write:
σ dept_name=“Physics” ∧ salary > 90,000 (instructor)

▪ The select predicate may include comparisons between two attributes.

• Example, find all departments whose name is the same as their building
name:
• σ dept_name=building (department)

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.13 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Project Operation

▪ A unary operation that returns its argument relation, with certain attributes left out.
▪ Notation:
∏ A1,A2,A3 ….Ak (r)
where A1, A2, …, Ak are attribute names and r is a relation name.
▪ The result is defined as the relation of k columns obtained by erasing the columns
that are not listed
▪ Duplicate rows removed from result, since relations are sets

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 Project Operation Example

▪ Example: eliminate the dept_name attribute of instructor

▪ Query:
∏ID, name, salary (instructor)
▪ Result:

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 Composition of Relational Operations

▪ The result of a relational-algebra operation is relation and therefore of

relational-algebra operations can be composed together into a relational-algebra
expression.
▪ Consider the query -- Find the names of all instructors in the Physics
department.

∏name(σ dept_name =“Physics” (instructor))

▪ Instead of giving the name of a relation as the argument of the projection

operation, we give an expression that evaluates to a relation.

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.16 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Cartesian-Product Operation

▪ The Cartesian-product operation (denoted by X) allows us to combine information

from any two relations.
▪ Example: the Cartesian product of the relations instructor and teaches is written
as:
instructor X teaches
▪ We construct a tuple of the result out of each possible pair of tuples: one from the
instructor relation and one from the teaches relation (see next slide)
▪ Since the instructor ID appears in both relations we distinguish between these
attribute by attaching to the attribute the name of the relation from which the
attribute originally came.
• instructor.ID
• teaches.ID

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 The instructor X teaches table

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 Join Operation

▪ The Cartesian-Product
instructor X teaches
associates every tuple of instructor with every tuple of teaches.
• Most of the resulting rows have information about instructors who did NOT
teach a particular course.
▪ To get only those tuples of “instructor X teaches “ that pertain to instructors and
the courses that they taught, we write:
σ instructor.id = teaches.id
(instructor x teaches ))

• We get only those tuples of “instructor X teaches” that pertain to

instructors and the courses that they taught.
▪ The result of this expression, shown in the next slide

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 Join Operation (Cont.)

▪ The table corresponding to:

σ instructor.id = teaches.id
(instructor x teaches))

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 Join Operation (Cont.)

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 Union Operation

▪ The union operation allows us to combine two relations

▪ Notation: r ∪ s
▪ For r ∪ s to be valid.
1. r, s must have the same arity (same number of attributes)
2. The attribute domains must be compatible (example: 2nd
column of r deals with the same type of values as does the
2nd column of s)
▪ Example: to find all courses taught in the Fall 2017 semester, or in the Spring
2018 semester, or in both
∏course_id (σ semester=“Fall” Λ year=2017
(section)) ∪
∏course_id (σ semester=“Spring” Λ year=2018
(section))

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.22 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Union Operation (Cont.)
▪ Result of:
∏course_id (σ semester=“Fall” Λ year=2017
(section)) ∪
∏course_id (σ semester=“Spring” Λ year=2018
(section))

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 Set-Intersection Operation

▪ The set-intersection operation allows us to find tuples that are in both the input
relations.
▪ Notation: r ∩ s
▪ Assume:
• r, s have the same arity
• attributes of r and s are compatible
▪ Example: Find the set of all courses taught in both the Fall 2017 and the Spring
2018 semesters.
∏course_id (σ semester=“Fall” Λ year=2017 (section)) ∩
∏course_id (σ semester=“Spring” Λ year=2018 (section))

• Result

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 Set Difference Operation

▪ The set-difference operation allows us to find tuples that are in one relation but are
not in another.
▪ Notation r – s
▪ Set differences must be taken between compatible relations.
• r and s must have the same arity
• attribute domains of r and s must be compatible
▪ Example: to find all courses taught in the Fall 2017 semester, but not in the Spring
2018 semester
∏course_id (σ semester=“Fall” Λ year=2017
(section)) −
∏course_id (σ semester=“Spring” Λ year=2018
(section))

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 The Assignment Operation

▪ It is convenient at times to write a relational-algebra expression by assigning parts

of it to temporary relation variables.
▪ The assignment operation is denoted by ← and works like assignment in a
programming language.
▪ Example: Find all instructor in the “Physics” and Music department.

Physics ← σ dept_name=“Physics” (instructor)

Music ← σ dept_name=“Music” (instructor)
Physics ∪ Music

▪ With the assignment operation, a query can be written as a sequential program

consisting of a series of assignments followed by an expression whose value is
displayed as the result of the query.

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 The Rename Operation

▪ The results of relational-algebra expressions do not have a name that we can use to
refer to them. The rename operator, ρ , is provided for that purpose
▪ The expression:
ρx (E)
returns the result of expression E under the name x
▪ Another form of the rename operation:
ρx(A1,A2, .. An) (E)

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 Equivalent Queries

▪ There is more than one way to write a query in relational algebra.

▪ Example: Find information about courses taught by instructors in the Physics
department with salary greater than 90,000
▪ Query 1
σ dept_name=“Physics” ∧ salary > 90,000 (instructor)

▪ Query 2
σ dept_name=“Physics” (σ salary > 90.000 (instructor))

▪ The two queries are not identical; they are, however, equivalent -- they give the
same result on any database.

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 Equivalent Queries

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 End of Chapter 2

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