

Relational
1 Algebra
Understanding Algebra & Calculus is a
key to
RA
understanding SQL, query
Relational Algebra

Overview
Definition

Operations ( basic)
2

Reference:
Database Management Systems, R. Ramakrishnan and J. Gehrke

RA
 Important Concept

 Relational algebra (RA)

 Similar to high school
algebra except that the
variables are tables not
numbers and the results are
tables not numbers.
 Definition

 “Relational algebra is a theoretical

language with operators that are
applied on one or two relations to
produce another relation.” Ricardo p. 181
 Both the operands and the result are
tables
 About Relational Algebra
 A procedural language
 Not implemented in native
form in DBMS
 Basis for other HL DMLs
 What is an “Algebra”

 Mathematical system consisting

of:
 Operands --- variables or values
from which new values can be
constructed.
 Operators --- symbols denoting
procedures that construct new
values from given values.
RA
6
 What is Relational Algebra?

 An algebra whose operands are relations

or variables that represent relations.
 Operators are designed to do the most
common things that we need to do with
relations in a database.
 The result is an algebra that can be used as a
query language for relations.

RA
7
 8
Relational Query
 Languages
Query languages: Allow manipulation and
retrieval of data from a database.
 Relational model supports simple, powerful QLs:
 Strong formal foundation based on logic.
 Allows for much optimization.
 Query Languages != programming languages!
 QLs not expected to be “Turing complete”.
 QLs not intended to be used for complex calculations.
 QLs support easy, efficient access to large data sets.

RA
 9
Formal Relational Query
Languages
Two mathematical Query Languages form the basis
for “real” languages (e.g. SQL), and for
implementation:
Relational Algebra: More operational, very useful for
representing execution plans.

Relational Calculus: Lets users describe what they

want, rather than how to compute it. (Non-
procedural, declarative.)
 Understanding Algebra & Calculus is key
to
RA
understanding SQL, query processing!
10 RA: Operations

01/02/25
RA
 11 Relational Algebra: 5 Basic
Operations
 Selection ( ) Selects a subset of rows
from relation (horizontal).
 Projection ( ) Retains only wanted columns
from relation (vertical).
 Cross-product (x) Allows us to combine two
relations.
 Set-difference (–) Tuples in r1, but not in r2.
 Union ( ) Tuples in r1 and/or in r2.

RA
Example Instances R1 sid bid day
12
22 101 10/10/96
58 103 11/12/96

S1 sid sname rating age

bid bname color 22 dustin 7 45.0
101 Interlake blue 31 lubber 8 55.5
102 Interlake red 58 rusty 10 35.0
103 Clipper green
104 Marine red S2
sid sname rating age
Boats
28 yuppy 9 35.0
31 lubber 8 55.5
44 guppy 5 35.0
RA
58 rusty 10 35.0
 13
Projection
 Examples: age(S2) ; (S2)
sname,rating
 Retains only attributes that are in the
“projection list”.
 Schema of result:
 exactly the fields in the projection list,
with the same names that they had in the
input relation.
 Projection operator has to eliminate
duplicates

RA
 sname rating
14 Projection yuppy 9
lubber 8
guppy 5
rusty 10
sid sname rating age  sname,rating (S 2)
28 yuppy 9 35.0
31 lubber 8 55.5
44 guppy 5 35.0
58 rusty 10 35.0 age
S2 35.0
55.5

RA
 age(S2)
 15 Selection ()
 Selects rows that satisfy selection condition.
 Result is a relation.
Schema of result is same as that of the input
relation.
 Do we need to do duplicate elimination?

sid sname rating age

28 yuppy 9 35.0 sname rating
31 lubber 8 55.5
yuppy 9
44 guppy 5 35.0
58 rusty 10 35.0 rusty 10
 rating 8(S2)
RA  sname,rating( rating 8(S2))
 Union and Set-Difference
16

 All of these operations take two input

relations, which must be union-compatible:
 Same number of fields.
 `Corresponding’ fields have the same
type.

 For which, if any, is duplicate elimination

required?

RA
 17 Union S1 S2
sid sname rating age sid sname rating age
22 dustin 7 45.0 22 dustin 7 45.0
31 lubber 8 55.5
31 lubber 8 55.5
58 rusty 10 35.0
58 rusty 10 35.0
44 guppy 5 35.0
S1 28 yuppy 9 35.0
sid sname rating age
28 yuppy 9 35.0
31 lubber 8 55.5
44 guppy 5 35.0
58 rusty 10 35.0
S2
RA
 18 Set Difference
sid sname rating age S1 S2
22 dustin 7 45.0 sid sname rating age
31 lubber 8 55.5 22 dustin 7 45.0
58 rusty 10 35.0
S1
S2 – S1
sid sname rating age sid sname rating age
28 yuppy 9 35.0 28 yuppy 9 35.0
31 lubber 8 55.5 44 guppy 5 35.0
44 guppy 5 35.0
58 rusty 10 35.0
S2
RA
 19 Cross-Product
 S1 x R1: Each row of S1 paired with each row of
R1.
 Q: How many rows in the result?
 Result schema has one field per field of S1 and
R1, with field names `inherited’ if possible.
 May have a naming conflict: Both S1 and R1
have a field with the same name.
 In this case, can use the renaming operator:

 (C(1 sid1, 5 sid2), S1R1)

RA
 20
Cross Product Example
sid sname rating age
sid bid day
22 dustin 7 45.0
22 101 10/10/96 31 lubber 8 55.5
58 103 11/12/96 58 rusty 10 35.0
R1
S1

(sid) sname rating age (sid) bid day

22 dustin 7 45.0 22 101 10/ 10/96
R1 X S1 = 22 dustin 7 45.0 58 103 11/ 12/96
31 lubber 8 55.5 22 101 10/ 10/96
31 lubber 8 55.5 58 103 11/ 12/96
58 rusty 10 35.0 22 101 10/ 10/96
RA 58 rusty 10 35.0 58 103 11/ 12/96
 21 Compound Operator: Intersection
 In addition to the 5 basic operators, there
are several additional “Compound
Operators”
 These add no computational power to the
language, but are useful shorthands.
 Can be expressed solely with the basic
ops.

 Intersection takes two input relations, which

must be union-compatible.
 Q: How to express it using basic operators?
R  S = R  (R  S)
RA
 22
Intersection
sid
22
sname rating age
dustin 7 45.0
S1 S2
31 lubber 8 55.5 sid sname rating age
58 rusty 10 35.0 31 lubber 8 55.5
S1 58 rusty 10 35.0

sid sname rating age

28 yuppy 9 35.0
31 lubber 8 55.5
44 guppy 5 35.0
58 rusty 10 35.0
S2
RA
 Compound Operator: Join
23

 Joins are compound operators involving cross product, selection, and

(sometimes) projection.
 Most common type of join is a “natural join” (often just called “join”). R
S conceptually is:
 Compute R X S
 Select rows where attributes that appear in both relations
have equal values
 Project all unique attributes and one copy of each of the
common ones.
 Note: Usually done much more efficiently than this.
 Useful for putting “normalized” relations back together.

RA
 24 Natural Join Example
sid sname rating age
sid bid day 22 dustin 7 45.0
22 101 10/10/96 31 lubber 8 55.5
58 103 11/12/96 58 rusty 10 35.0
R1
S1

R1 S1 =

sid sname rating age bid day

22 dustin 7 45.0 101 10/ 10/ 96
58 rusty 10 35.0 103 11/ 12/ 96
RA
 25
Other Types of Joins
 Condition Join (or “theta-join”):

Rc S  c(RS )
 Result schema same as that of cross-
product.
 May have fewer tuples than cross-
product.

 Equi-Join: Special case: condition “c “contains only conjunction

of equalities.

RA
 26
“Theta” Join Example
sid bid day sid sname rating age
22 101 10/10/96 22 dustin 7 45.0
58 103 11/12/96 31 lubber 8 55.5
58 rusty 10 35.0
R1
S1
S1 R1 =
 S1.sidR1.sid

(sid) sname rating age (sid) bid day
22 dustin 7 45.0 58 103 11/ 12/ 96
31 lubber 8 55.5 58 103 11/ 12/ 96
RA
 27 Compound Operator: Division
 Useful for expressing “for all” queries like:

Find sids of sailors who

have reserved all boats.
 For A/B attributes of B are subset of attrs of
A.
 May need to “project” to make this
happen.
 E.g.,
field y:

A BletA have
x 2 y  B(
fields, x andx,  A)only
y;yB have 

A/B contains
RA all x tuples such that for every y tuple in B, there is an
xy tuple in A.
28
Examples of Division A/B
sno pno pno pno pno
s1 p1 p2 p2 p1
s1 p2
B1 p4 p2
s1 p3
B2 p4
s1 p4
s2 p1 sno B3
s2 p2 s1
s3 p2 s2 sno
s4 p2 s3 s1 sno
s4 p4 s4 s4 s1
A RA
A/B1 A/B2 A/B3
 29
Expressing A/B Using Basic
Operators
 Division is not essential op; just a useful shorthand.
 (Also true of joins, but joins are so common that systems
implement joins specially.)
 Idea: For A/B, compute all x values that are not
`disqualified’ by some y value in B.
 x value is disqualified if by attaching y value from B, we
obtain an xy tuple that is not in A.

Disqualified x values:  x (( x ( A) B)  A)

A/B:  x ( A)  Disqualified x values
RA
 sid bid day
Reserves
Examples
30
22 101 10/10/96
58 103 11/12/96
sid sname rating age
Sailors
22 dustin 7 45.0
31 lubber 8 55.5
58 rusty 10 35.0
bid bname color
Boats 101 Interlake Blue
102 Interlake Red
103 Clipper Green
104 Marine Red
RA
 31
Find names of sailors who’ve reserved boat
#103
 Solution 1: 
sname (( Re serves)  Sailors)
bid 103

• Solution 2:  sname ( (Re serves  Sailors))

bid 103

RA
 32
Find names of sailors who’ve reserved a
red boat
 Information about boat color only available in
Boats; so need an extra join:

 sname (( Boats)  Re serves  Sailors)

color ' red '

 A more efficient (???) solution:

 sname( (( ( Boats))Res)Sailors)
 sid bid color'red '


RA
 33 Find sailors who’ve reserved a red or a
green boat
 Can identify all red or green boats, then find sailors who’ve
reserved one of these boats:

 (Tempboats, ( Boats))
color ' red '  color ' green '
 sname(Tempboats  Re serves  Sailors)

RA
 34
Find sailors who’ve reserved a red and a
green boat
 Previous approach won’t work! Must identify
sailors who’ve reserved red boats, sailors who’ve
reserved green boats, then find the intersection
(note that sid is a key for Sailors):

 (Tempred,  (( Boats)  Re serves))

sid color ' red '
 (Tempgreen,  (( Boats)  Re serves))
sid color ' green'

 sname((Tempred  Tempgreen)  Sailors)

RA
 35 Find the names of sailors who’ve
reserved all boats
 Uses division; schemas of the input relations
to / must be carefully chosen:

 (Tempsids, ( Re serves) / ( Boats))

sid, bid bid
 sname (Tempsids  Sailors)

To find sailors who’ve reserved all ‘Interlake’ boats:

..... / ( Boats)
RA
bid bname ' Interlake'
36 RA –Summary

RA 01/02/25
37 RA –Summary

RA 01/02/25