What is Database System?

DB course is about:
„ How to organize data
„ Efficient and effective data retrieval
„ Secured and reliable storage of data
„ Maintaining consistent data
„ Making information useful for decision making

Data management passes through the different levels of development along with
the development in technology and services. These levels could best be described
by categorizing the levels into three levels of development. Even though there is
an advantage and a problem overcome at each new level, all methods of data
handling are in use to some extent. The major three levels are;

1. Manual Approach
2. Traditional File Based Approach
3. Database Approach

1. Manual Approach
¾ Files for as many event and objects as the organization has are used to
store information.
¾ Each of the files containing various kinds of information is labelled and
stored in one ore more cabinets.
¾ The cabinets could be kept in safe places for security purpose based on the
sensitivity of the information contained in it.
¾ Insertion and retrieval is done by searching first for the right cabinet then
for the right the file then the information.
¾ One could have an indexing system to facilitate access to the data

Limitations of the Manual approach

¾ Prone to error
¾ Difficult to update, retrieve, integrate
¾ You have the data but it is difficult to compile the information
¾ Limited to small size information
¾ Cross referencing is difficult

An alternative approach of data handling is a computerized way of dealing with

the information. The computerized approach could also be either decentralized
or centralized base on where the data resides in the system.

1
2. Traditional File Based Approach
¾ This approach is the decentralized computerized data handling method.
¾ A collection of application programs perform services for the end-users. In
such systems, every application program that provides service to end
users define and manage its own data
¾ File based systems were an early attempt to computerize the manual filing
system.
¾ Such systems have number of programs for each of the different
applications in the organization.
¾ Since every application defines and manages its own data, the system is
subjected to serious data duplication problem.
¾ File, in traditional file based approach, is a collection of records which
contains logically related data.

2
Limitations of the Traditional File Based approach
¾ Separation or Isolation of Data: Available information in one application
may not be known.
¾ Duplication or redundancy of data
¾ Data dependency on the application
¾ Incompatible file formats between different applications and programs
creating inconsistency.
¾ Fixed query processing which is defined during application development
The limitations for the traditional file based data handling approach arise
from two basic reasons.
1. Definition of the data is embedded in the application program which
makes it difficult to modify the database definition easily.
2. No control over the access and manipulation of the data beyond that
imposed by the application programs.
The most significant problem experienced by the traditional file based approach
of data handling is the “update anomalies”. We have three types of update
anomalies;
1. Modification Anomalies: a problem experienced when one ore more data
value is modified on one application program but not on others
containing the same data set.
2. Deletion Anomalies: a problem encountered where one record set is
deleted from one application but remain untouched in other application
programs.
3. Insertion Anomalies: a problem encountered where one can not decide
whether the data to be inserted is valid and consistent with other similar
data set.

3. Database Approach
¾ Database is just a computerized record keeping system or a kind of
electronic filing cabinet.
¾ Database is a storehouse for collection of computerized data files.
¾ Database is a shared collection of logically related data designed to meet the
information needs of an organization. Since it is a shared corporate
resource, the database is integrated with minimum amount of or no
duplication.
¾ Database is a collection of logically related data where these logically
related data comprises entities, attributes, and relationships of an
organization's information.
¾ In addition to containing data required by an organization, database also
contains a description of the data which called as “Metadata” or “Data
Dictionary” or “Systems Catalogue” or “Data about Data”. Since a

3
 database contains information about the data (metadata), it is called a self
descriptive collection on integrated records.
¾ The purpose of a database is to store information and to allow users to
retrieve and update that information on demand.
¾ Database is deigned once and used simultaneously by many users.
¾ Unlike the traditional file based approach in database approach there is
program data independence. That is the separation of the data definition
from the application. Thus the application is an affected by changes made in
the data structure and file organization.

Benefits of the database approach

¾ Data can be shared
¾ Redundancy can be reduced
¾ Inconsistency can be avoided to some extent
¾ Transaction support can be provided
¾ Integrity (correctness) can be maintained
¾ Security majors can be enforced
¾ Conflicting requirements can be balanced
¾ Standards can be enforced

Why Database?
¾ Compactness (no voluminous papers)
¾ Speed: retrieval and update is fast
¾ Less drudgery: less file maintenance process
¾ Currency: accurate and up-to-date information is available on demand.
¾ Centralized information control unit

4
Limitations of Database Approach
¾ Complexity in designing and managing data
¾ High cost incurred to develop and maintain
¾ Reduced performance due to centralization
¾ High impact on the system when failure occur

5
Functions of Database Management System (DBMS)
A full scale DBMS should have the following services to provide to the
user.
1. Data storage, retrieval and update in the database
2. A user accessible catalogue
3. Transaction support service: ALL or NONE transaction which
minimize data inconsistency.
4. Concurrency Control Services: access and update on the database by
different users simultaneously should be implemented correctly.
5. Recovery Services: a mechanism for recovering the database after a
failure must be available.
6. Authorization Services (Security): must support the implementation
of access and authorization service to database administrator and
users.
7. Support for Data Communication: should provide the facility to
integrate with data transfer software or data communication
managers.
8. Integrity Services: rules about data and the change that took place on
the data, correctness and consistency of stored data, and quality of
data based on business constraints.
9. Services to promote data independency between the data and the
application
10. Utility services: sets of utility service facilities like
¾ Importing data
¾ Statistical analysis support
¾ Index reorganization
¾ Garbage collection

DBMS and Components of DBMS Environment

A DBMS is software packages designed to store and manage databases. It
provides the following facilities:
¾ Data Definition Language (DDL): language used to define each data
element required by the organization.
¾ Data Manipulation Language (DML): language used by end-users
and programmers to store, retrieve, and access the data e.g. SQL
¾ Data Dictionary: tool used to store and organize information about the
data

The DBMS is software that helps to design, handle, and use data using the
database approach. Taking a DBMS as a system one can describe it with respect

6
to it environment or other systems interacting with the DBMS. The DBMS
environment has five components.

1. Hardware: components that are comprised of personal computers,

mainframe or any server computers, network infrastructure, etc.
2. Software: those components like the DBMS software, application
programs, operating systems, network software, and other relevant
software.
3. Data: This is the most important component to the user of the database.
There are two types of data in a database approach that is Operational and
Metadata. The structure of the data in the database is called the schema
which is composed of the Entities, Properties of entities, and relationship
between entities.
4. Procedure: this is the rules and regulations on how to design and use
a database. It includes procedures like how to log on to the DBMS, how to
use facilities, how to start and stop transaction, how to make backup, how
to treat hardware and software failure, how to change the structure of the
database.
5. People: people in the organization responsible to designing,
implement, manage, administer and use of the database.
Database Development Life Cycle

As it is one component in most information system development tasks, there are

several steps in deigning a database system. Here more emphasis is given to the
design phase of the system development life cycle. The general phases in
database design are;

1. Planning: that is identifying information gap in an organization and

propose a database solution to solve the problem.

2. Analysis: that concentrates more on fact finding about the problem or

the opportunity. Feasibility analysis, requirement determination and
structuring, and selection of best design method are also performed at this
phase.

3. Design: in database designing more emphasis is given to this phase. The

phase is further divided into three sub-phases.
a. Conceptual Design: brief description of the data, data type,
relationship between data and constraints on the data. There is no
implementation or physical detail consideration.

7
 b. Logical Design: a higher level conceptual abstraction with selected
specific data model to implement the data structure. It is particular
DBMS independent and with no other physical considerations.
c. Physical Design: physical implementation of the upper level
design of the database with respect to internal storage and file
structure of the database for the selected DBMS.

4. Implementation: the testing and deployment of the designed

database for use.

5. Operation and Support: administering and maintaining the

operation of the database system and providing support to users.
Roles in Database Design and Use
As people are one of the components in DBMS environment, there are group of
roles played by different stakeholders of the designing and operation of a
database system.

1. DataBase Administrator (DBA)

¾ Responsible to oversee, control and manage the database resources (the
database itself, the DBMS and other related software)
¾ Authorizing access to the database
¾ Coordinating and monitoring the use of the database
¾ Responsible for determining and acquiring hardware and software
resources
¾ Accountable for problems like poor security, poor performance of the
system
¾ Involves in all steps of database development
We can have further classifications of this role in big organizations having
huge amount of data and user requirement.
1. Data Administrator (DA): is responsible on management of data
resources. Involves in database planning, development,
maintenance of standards policies and procedures at the conceptual
and logical design phases.

2. DataBase Administrator (DBA): is more technically oriented role.

Responsible for the physical realization of the database. Involves in
physical design, implementation, security and integrity control of
the database.

8
2. DataBase Designer (DBD)
¾ Identifies the data to be stored and choose the appropriate structures to
represent and store the data.
¾ Should understand the user requirement and should choose how the user
views the database.
¾ Involve on the design phase before the implementation of the database
system.
We have two distinctions of database designers, one involving in the logical
and conceptual design and another involving in physical design.

1. Logical and Conceptual DBD

¾ Identifies data (entity, attributes and relationship) relevant
to the organization
¾ Identifies constraints on each data
¾ Understand data and business rules in the organization
¾ Sees the database independent of any data model at
conceptual level and consider one specific data model at
logical design phase.

2. Physical DBD
¾ Take logical design specification as input and decide how it
should be physically realized.
¾ Map the logical data model on the specified DBMS with respect
to tables and integrity constraints. (DBMS dependent designing)
¾ Select specific storage structure and access path to the database
¾ Design security measures required on the database

3. Application Programmer and Systems Analyst

¾ System analyst determines the user requirement and how the user
wants to view the database.
¾ The application programmer implements these specifications as
programs; code, test, debug, document and maintain the application
program.
¾ Determines the interface on how to retrieve, insert, update and delete
data in the database.
¾ The application could use any high level programming language
according to the availability, the facility and the required service.

4. End Users
Workers, whose job requires accessing the database frequently for various
purpose. There are different group of users in this category.
1. Naïve Users:
¾ Sizable proportion of users

9
 ¾ Unaware of the DBMS
¾ Only access the database based on their access level and
demand
¾ Use standard and pre-specified types of queries.
2. Sophisticated Users
¾ Are users familiar with the structure of the Database and
facilities of the DBMS.
¾ Have complex requirements
¾ Have higher level queries
¾ Are most of the time engineers, scientists, business analysts, etc
3. Casual Users
¾ Users who access the database occasionally.
¾ Need different information from the database each time.
¾ Use sophisticated database queries to satisfy their needs.
¾ Are most of the time middle to high level managers.

These users can be again classified as “Actors on the Scene” and “Workers
Behind the Scene”.

Actors On the Scene:

¾ Data Administrator
¾ Database Administrator
¾ Database Designer
¾ End Users

Workers Behind the Scene

¾ DBMS designers and implementers: who design and implement
different DBMS software.
¾ Tool Developers: experts who develop software packages that facilitates
database system designing and use. Prototype, simulation, code
generator developers could be an example. Independent software
vendors could also be categorized in this group.
¾ Operators and Maintenance Personnel: system administrators who are
responsible for actually running and maintaining the hardware and
software of the database system and the information technology
facilities.

10
 History of Database Systems
The purpose and origin of the Three-Level database
architecture
8 All users should be able to access same data
8 A user's view is unaffected or immune to changes made in other
views
8 Users should not need to know physical database storage details
8 DBA should be able to change database storage structures
without affecting the users' views.
8 Internal structure of database should be unaffected by changes to
physical aspects of storage.
8 DBA should be able to change conceptual structure of database
without affecting all users.

ANSI-SPARC Three-level Architecture

11
ANSI-SPARC Architecture and Database
Design Phases

12
The contents of the external, conceptual and internal levels
The purpose of the external/conceptual and the
conceptual/internal mappings

External Level: Users' view of the database. Describes that part of database
that is relevant to a particular user. Different users have their own
customized view of the database independent of other users.

Conceptual Level: Community view of the database. Describes what data

is stored in database and relationships among the data.

Internal Level: Physical representation of the database on the computer.

Describes how the data is stored in the database.

Differences between Three Levels of ANSI-SPARC Architecture

13
 Defines DBMS schemas at three levels:
Internal schema at the internal level to describe physical storage structures and
access paths. Typically uses a physical data model.

Conceptual schema at the conceptual level to describe the structure and

constraints for the whole database for a community of users. Uses a conceptual
or an implementation data model.

External schemas at the external level to describe the various user views. Usually
uses the same data model as the conceptual level.

The meaning of logical and physical data

independence

Data Independence
Logical Data Independence:
8 Refers to immunity of external schemas to changes in conceptual
schema.
8 Conceptual schema changes e.g. addition/removal of entities
should not require changes to external schema or rewrites of
application programs.
8 The capacity to change the conceptual schema without having to
change the external schemas and their application programs.

Physical Data Independence

8 The ability to modify the physical schema without changing the
logical schema
8 Applications depend on the logical schema
8 In general, the interfaces between the various levels and
components should be well defined so that changes in some parts
do not seriously influence others.
8 The capacity to change the internal schema without having to
change the conceptual schema

8 Refers to immunity of conceptual schema to changes in the internal

schema

14
 8 Internal schema changes e.g. using different file organizations,
storage structures/devices should not require change to
conceptual or external schemas.

Data Independence and the ANSI-SPARC Three-level Architecture

The distinction between a Data Definition Language (DDL) and a Data
Manipulation Language (DML)

Database Languages
Data Definition Language (DDL)
8 Allows DBA or user to describe and name entitles, attributes and
relationships required for the application.
8 Specification notation for defining the database schema

Data Manipulation Language (DML)

8 Provides basic data manipulation operations on data held in the
database.
8 Language for accessing and manipulating the data organized by
the appropriate data model
8 DML also known as query language

Procedural DML: user specifies what data is required and how to

get the data.

Non-Procedural DML: user specifies what data is required but not

how it is to be retrieved

15
SQL is the most widely used non-procedural language query
language

Fourth Generation Language (4GL)

8 Query Languages
8 Forms Generators
8 Report Generators
8 Graphics Generators
8 Application Generators

A Classification of data models

Data Model
A specific DBMS has its own specific Data Definition Language, but this
type of language is too low level to describe the data requirements of an
organization in a way that is readily understandable by a variety of users.
We need a higher-level language.
Such a higher-level is called data-model.

Data Model: a set of concepts to describe the structure of a database,

and certain constraints that the database should obey.

A data model is a description of the way that data is stored in a database.

Data model helps to understand the relationship between entities and to create
the most effective structure to hold data.

Data Model is a collection of tools or concepts for describing

8 Data
8 Data relationships
8 Data semantics
8 Data constraints

The main purpose of Data Model is to represent the data in an

understandable way.
Categories of data models include:
8 Object-based

16
 8 Record-based
8 Physical
Object-based Data Models
8 Entity-Relationship
8 Semantic
8 Functional
8 Object-Oriented
Record-based Data Models
Consist of a number of fixed format records.
Each record type defines a fixed number of fields,
Each field is typically of a fixed length.
8 Relational Data Model
8 Network Data Model
8 Hierarchical Data Model

We have three major types of data models

1. Hierarchical Model
2. Network Model
3. Relational Data Model

1. Hierarchical Model
• The simplest data model
• Record type is referred to as node or segment
• The top node is the root node
• Nodes are arranged in a hierarchical structure as sort of upside-
down tree
• A parent node can have more than one child node
• A child node can only have one parent node
• The relationship between parent and child is one-to-many
• Relation is established by creating physical link between stored
records (each is stored with a predefined access path to other
records)
• To add new record type or relationship, the database must be
redefined and then stored in a new form.

17
 Department

Employee Job

Time Card Activity

ADVANTAGES of Hierarchical Data Model:

8 Hierarchical Model is simple to construct and operate on
8 Corresponds to a number of natural hierarchically organized domains
- e.g., assemblies in manufacturing, personnel organization in
companies
8 Language is simple; uses constructs like GET, GET UNIQUE, GET
NEXT, GET NEXT WITHIN PARENT etc.

DISADVANTAGES of Hierarchical Data Model:

8 Navigational and procedural nature of processing
8 Database is visualized as a linear arrangement of records
8 Little scope for "query optimization"

2. Network Model
• Allows record types to have more that one parent unlike
hierarchical model
• A network data models sees records as set members
• Each set has an owner and one or more members
• Allow no many to many relationship between entities
• Like hierarchical model network model is a collection of
physically linked records.
• Allow member records to have more than one owner

18
 Department Job

Employee
Activity

Time Card

ADVANTAGES of Network Data Model:

8 Network Model is able to model complex relationships and represents
semantics of add/delete on the relationships.
8 Can handle most situations for modeling using record types and
relationship types.
8 Language is navigational; uses constructs like FIND, FIND member,
FIND owner, FIND NEXT within set, GET etc. Programmers can do
optimal navigation through the database.

DISADVANTAGES of Network Data Model:

8 Navigational and procedural nature of processing
8 Database contains a complex array of pointers that thread through a
set of records.
8 Little scope for automated "query optimization”

3. Relational Data Model

• Developed by Dr. Edgar Frank Codd in 1970 (famous paper, 'A
Relational Model for Large Shared Data Banks')
• Terminologies originates from the branch of mathematics called set
theory and relation
• Can define more flexible and complex relationship
• Viewed as a collection of tables called “Relations” equivalent to
collection of record types
• Relation: Two dimensional table
• Stores information or data in the form of tables Æ rows and columns
• A row of the table is called tupleÆ equivalent to record
• A column of a table is called attributeÆ equivalent to fields
• Data value is the value of the Attribute

19
 • Records are related by the data stored jointly in the fields of records in
two tables or files. The related tables contain information that creates
the relation
• The tables seem to be independent but are related some how.
• No physical consideration of the storage is required by the user
• Many tables are merged together to come up with a new virtual view
of the relationship

Alternative terminologies
Relation Table File
Tuple Row Record
Attribute Column Field

• The rows represent records (collections of information about

separate items)
• The columns represent fields (particular attributes of a record)
• Conducts searches by using data in specified columns of one table to
find additional data in another table
• In conducting searches, a relational database matches information
from a field in one table with information in a corresponding field of
another table to produce a third table that combines requested data
from both tables

20
 Relational Data Model

Properties of Relational Databases

• Each row of a table is uniquely identified by a PRIMARY KEY
composed of one or more columns
• Each tuple in a relation must be unique
• Group of columns, that uniquely identifies a row in a table is called a
CANDIDATE KEY
• ENTITY INTEGRITY RULE of the model states that no component of
the primary key may contain a NULL value.
• A column or combination of columns that matches the primary key of
another table is called a FOREIGN KEY. Used to cross-reference
tables.
• The REFERENTIAL INTEGRITY RULE of the model states that, for
every foreign key value in a table there must be a corresponding
primary key value in another table in the database or it should be
NULL.
• All tables are LOGICAL ENTITIES
• A table is either a BASE TABLES (Named Relations) or VIEWS
(Unnamed Relations)
• Only Base Tables are physically stores
• VIEWS are derived from BASE TABLES with SQL instructions like:
[SELECT .. FROM .. WHERE .. ORDER BY]
• Is the collection of tables
o Each entity in one table
o Attributes are fields (columns) in table
• Order of rows and columns is immaterial
• Entries with repeating groups are said to be un-normalized
• Entries are single-valued
• Each column (field or attribute) has a distinct name

All values in a column represent the same attribute and have the same
data format

1
 Building Blocks of the Relational Data Model
The building blocks of the relational data model are:

¾ Entities: real world physical or logical object

¾ Attributes: properties used to describe each Entity or real world object.
¾ Relationship: the association between Entities
¾ Constraints: rules that should be obeyed while manipulating the data.

1. The ENTITIES (persons, places, things etc.) which the organization has to
deal with. Relations can also describe relationships

The name given to an entity should always be a singular noun descriptive

of each item to be stored in it. E.g.: student NOT students.

Every relation has a schema, which describes the columns, or fields

The relation itself corresponds to our familiar notion of a table: A relation
is a collection of tuples, each of which contains values for a fixed number
of attributes

2. The ATTRIBUTES - the items of information which characterize and describe

these entities.

Attributes are pieces of information ABOUT entities. The analysis must of

course identify those which are actually relevant to the proposed
application. Attributes will give rise to recorded items of data in the
database

At this level we need to know such things as:

• Attribute name (be explanatory words or phrases)

• The domain from which attribute values are taken (A DOMAIN is
a set of values from which attribute values may be taken.) Each
attribute has values taken from a domain. For example, the
domain of Name is string and that for salary is real
• Whether the attribute is part of the entity identifier (attributes
which just describe an entity and those which help to identify it
uniquely)
• Whether it is permanent or time-varying (which attributes may
change their values over time)
• Whether it is required or optional for the entity (whose values will
sometimes be unknown or irrelevant)

2
Types of Attributes

(1) Simple (atomic) Vs Composite attributes

• Simple : contains a single value (not divided into sub parts)
E.g. Age, gender
• Composite: Divided into sub parts (composed of other
attributes)
E.g. Name, address

(2) Single-valued Vs multi-valued attributes

• Single-valued : have only single value(the value may
change but has only one value at one time)
E.g. Name, Sex, Id. No. color_of_eyes
• Multi-Valued: have more than one value
E.g. Address, dependent-name
Person may have several college degrees

(3) Stored vs. Derived Attribute

• Stored : not possible to derive or compute
E.g. Name, Address
• Derived: The value may be derived (computed) from the
values of other attributes.
E.g. Age (current year – year of birth)
Length of employment (current date- start date)
Profit (earning-cost)
G.P.A (grade point/credit hours)
(4) Null Values
• NULL applies to attributes which are not applicable or
which do not have values.
• You may enter the value NA (meaning not applicable)
• Value of a key attribute can not be null.

Default value - assumed value if no explicit value

3
3. The RELATIONSHIPS between entities which exist and must be taken into
account when processing information.

• One external event or process may affect several related entities.

• Related entities require setting of LINKS from one part of the
database to another.
• A relationship should be named by a word or phrase which
explains its function
• Role names are different from the names of entities forming the
relationship: one entity may take on many roles, the same role may
be played by different entities
• An important point about a relationship is how many entities
participate in it. The number of entities participating in a
relationship is called the DEGREE of the relationship.

O UNARY/RECURSIVE RELATIONSHIP: Single entity

O BINARY RELATIONSHIPS: Two entities associated
O TERNARY RELATIONSHIP: Three entities associated
O N-NARY RELATIONSHIP: arbitrary number of entity sets

• Another important point about relationship is the range of

instances that can be associated with a single instance from one
entity in a single relationship. The number of instances
participating or associated with a single instance from another
entity in a relationship is called the CARDINALITY of the
relationship.
ƒ ONE-TO-ONE, e.g. Building - Location,
ƒ ONE-TO-MANY, e.g. hospital - patient,
ƒ MANY-TO-ONE, e.g. Employee - Department
ƒ MANY-TO-MANY, e.g. Author - Book.

4
 Relational Constraints
• Relational Integrity
¾ Domain Integrity: No value of the attribute should be
beyond the allowable limits
¾ Entity Integrity: In a base relation, no attribute of a
primary key can be null
¾ Referential Integrity: If a foreign key exists in a
relation, either the foreign key value must match a
candidate key in its home relation or the foreign key
value must be null foreign key to primary key
match-ups
¾ Enterprise Integrity: Additional rules specified by the
users or database administrators of a database are
incorporated

• Key constraints
If tuples are need to be unique in the database, and then we need to make
each tuple distinct. To do this we need to have relational keys that
uniquely identify each relation.

Super Key: an attribute or set of attributes that uniquely identifies a tuple

within a relation.
Candidate Key: a super key such that no proper subset of that collection is
a Super Key within the relation.
A candidate key has two properties:
1. Uniqueness
2. Irreducibility
If a candidate key consists of more than one attribute it is
called composite key.
Primary Key: the candidate key that is selected to identify tuples uniquely
within the relation.
The entire set of attributes in a relation can be considered as a
primary case in a worst case.
Foreign Key: an attribute, or set of attributes, within one relation that
matches the candidate key of some relation.
A foreign key is a link between different relations to create the view
or the unnamed relation

5
 • Relational languages and views
The languages in relational database management systems are the DDL
and the DML that are used to define or create the database and perform
manipulation on the database.

We have the two states in relational database:

1. Base Relation: a named relation corresponding to an entity in the
conceptual schema, whose tuples are physically stored in the
database.
2. View: the dynamic result of one or more relational operations
operating on the base relations to produce another virtual relation.
So a view virtually derived relation that does not necessarily exist in
the database but can be produced upon request by a particular user
at the time of request.

Purpose of a view
¾ Hides unnecessary information from users
¾ Provide powerful flexibility and security
¾ Provide customized view of the database for users
¾ Update on views derived from various relations is not
allowed, but a view of one base relation can be updated.

6
 Schemas and Instances and Database State

„ Relational databases are developed based on the relational data model

Schemas
z Database Schema (intension): specifies name of relation, plus name and
type of each column.
¾ refer to a description of database (or intention)
¾ specified during database design
¾ should not be changed
z schema diagrams
¾ convention to display some aspect of a schema visually
z schema construct
¾ refers to each object in the schema (e.g. STUDENT)
E.g.: STUNEDT (FName,LName,Id,Year,Dept,Sex)

z Three-Schema Architecture
¾ Internal schema (or internal level)
z Internal schema describes the physical storage, structure of
the database (data storage, access paths)

¾ Conceptual schema (or conceptual level)

z describes the structure of the entire database
z hides the details of physical storage structures
z concentrates on the describing
z entities, data types, relationships, operations, and
constraints
z high-level data models or an implementation data model
may be used here

¾ External schema (or view-level)

z includes a number of external schema or user view
z each view describes subset of database needed by a
particular user
z High Level data model or an implementation data model
can be used here

7
Instances
z Database state (snapshot or extension): is the collection of data in the
database at a particular point of time (snap-shot).
¾ Refers to the actual data in the database at a specific time
¾ State of database is changed any time we add or delete a record
¾ Valid state: the state that satisfies the structure and constraints
specified in the schema and is enforced by DBMS

z To define a new database, we specify its database schema to the DBMS

(database is empty)
z database is initialized when we first load it with data

8
 Database Design
Database design consists of several tasks:
¾ Requirements Analysis,
¾ Conceptual Design, and Schema Refinement,
¾ Logical Design,
¾ Physical Design and
¾ Tuning

„ In general, one has to go back and forth between

these tasks to refine a database design, and
decisions in one task can influence the choices in
another task.
„ In developing a good design, one should ask:
What are the important queries and updates?
What attributes/relations are involved?

Three levels of Database Design

Conceptual design

Logical design

Physical design

9
 Conceptual Database Design
„ Conceptual design is the process of constructing a model of the
information used in an enterprise, independent of all physical
considerations.
„ It is the source of information for the logical design phase.
„ Community User’s view

„ After the completion of Conceptual Design one has to go for

refinement of the schema, which is verification of Entities,
Attributes, and Relationships

Logical Database Design

„ Logical design is the process of constructing a model of the
information used in an enterprise based on a specific data
model (e.g. relational), but independent of a particular
DBMS and other physical considerations.
„ Normalization process
„ Discover new entities
„ Revise attributes

Physical Database Design

„ Physical design is the process of producing a description of
the implementation of the database on secondary storage. -
- defines specific storage or access methods used by
database
„ Describes the storage structures and access methods
used to achieve efficient access to the data.
„ Tailored to a specific DBMS system -- Characteristics
are function of DBMS and operating systems
„ Includes estimate of storage space

10
 Conceptual Database Design
„ Conceptual design revolves around discovering and analyzing organizational
and user data requirements
„ The important activities are to identify
¾ Entities
¾ Attributes
¾ Relationships
¾ Constraints
„ And based on these components develop the ER model using
¾ ER diagrams

The Entity Relationship (E-R) Model

„ Entity-Relationship modeling is used to represent conceptual view of the
database
„ The main components of ER Modeling are:
o Entities
ƒ Corresponds to entire table, not row
ƒ Represented by rectangle
o Attributes
ƒ Represents the property used to describe an entity or a
relationship
o Relationships
ƒ Represents the association that exist between entities
o Constraints
ƒ Represent the constraint in the data

Before working on the conceptual design of the database, one

has to know and answer the following basic questions.
• What are the entities and relationships in the enterprise?
• What information about these entities and relationships
should we store in the database?
• What are the integrity constraints that hold? Constraints on
each data with respect to update, retrieval and store.
• Represent this information pictorially in ER diagrams, then
map ER diagram into a relational schema.

11
 Developing an E-R Diagram

„ Designing conceptual model for the database is not a one

linear process but an iterative activity where the design
is refined again and again.
„ To identify the entities, attributes, relationships, and
constraints on the data, there are different set of methods
used during the analysis phase. These include
information gathered by…
¾ Interviewing end users individually and in a
group
¾ Questionnaire survey
¾ Direct observation
¾ Examining different documents
„ The basic E-R model is graphically depicted and
presented for review.
„ The process is repeated until the end users and designers
agree that the E-R diagram is a fair representation of the
organization’s activities and functions.
„ Checking for Redundant Relationships in the ER
Diagram. Relationships between entities indicate access from one entity
to another - it is therefore possible to access one entity occurrence from
another entity occurrence even if there are other entities and relationships
that separate them - this is often referred to as Navigation' of the ER
diagram
„ The last phase in ER modeling is validating an ER Model
against requirement of the user.

12
Graphical Representations in ER Diagramming

„ Entity is represented by a RECTANGLE containing the

name of the entity.
Strong Entity Weak Entity

„ Connected entities are called relationship participants

„ Attributes are represented by OVALS and are

connected to the entity by a line.
Ova
Ovals Ovals Ovals
Ova

Multi-valued Composite Ova

Attribute Attribute Attribute

„ A derived attribute is indicated by a DOTTED LINE.

(……..)
Ovals

„ PRIMARY KEYS are underlined.

Key

„ Relationships are represented by DIAMOND shaped

symbols
Diamond
Diamond

Relationship
Weak Relationship

13
Example 1

„ Build an ER Diagram for the following information:

„ Students
„ Have an Id, Name, Dept, Age, Gpa
„ Courses
„ Have an Id, Name, Credit Hours
„ Students enroll in courses and receive a grade

Name Dept DoB Id Name Credit

Id Gpa
Students Course

Age

Enrolled_In
Cour_Id Stud_Id

Grade

14
Entity versus Attributes
„ Consider designing a database of employees for an
organization:
„ Should address be an attribute of Employees or an
entity (connected to Employees by a relationship)?

1. If we have several addresses per employee, address

must be an entity (attributes cannot be set-valued/multi
valued)
„ If the structure (city, Woreda, Kebele, etc) is important, e.g.
want to retrieve employees in a given city, address must be
modeled as an entity (attribute values are atomic)

„ Cardinality on Relationship expresses the number of entity

occurrences/tuples associated with one occurrence/tuple of
related entity.
„ Existence Dependency: the dependence of an entity on the
existence of one or more entities.
„ Weak entity : an entity that can not exist without the entity with
which it has a relationship – it is indicated by a double
rectangle
„ Participating entity in a relationship is either optional or
mandatory.

15
 Structural Constraints on Relationship

1. Constraints on Relationship / Multiplicity/ Cardinality Constraints

¾ Multiplicity constraint is the number of or range of possible occurrence of an
entity type/relation that may relate to a single occurrence/tuple of an entity
type/relation through a particular relationship.

¾ Mostly used to insure appropriate enterprise constraints.

One-to-one relationship:
¾ A customer is associated with at most one loan via the relationship borrower
¾ A loan is associated with at most one customer via borrower

E.g.: Relationship Manages between STAFF and BRANCH

The multiplicity of the relationship is:
¾ One branch can only have one manager
¾ One employee could manage either one or no branches

1..1 Manages
0..1
Employee Branch

16
 One-To-Many Relationships
¾ In the one-to-many relationship a loan is associated with at most one customer
via borrower, a customer is associated with several (including 0) loans via
borrower

E.g.: Relationship Leads between STAFF and PROJECT

The multiplicity of the relationship
¾ One staff may Lead one or more project(s)
¾ One project is Lead by one staff

0..* Leads
1..1
Employee Project

Many-To-Many Relationship
¾ A customer is associated with several (possibly 0) loans via borrower
¾ A loan is associated with several (possibly 0) customers via borrower

E.g.: Relationship Teaches between INSTRUCTOR and COURSE

The multiplicity of the relationship
¾ One Instructor Teaches one or more Course(s)
¾ One Course Thought by Zero or more Instructor(s)

1..* Teaches
0..*
Instructor Course

17
 Participation of an Entity Set in a Relationship Set

¾ Total participation (indicated by double line): every entity in the

entity set participates in at least one relationship in the relationship
set. The entity with total participation will be connected with the
relationship using a double line.
¾ E.g. 1: Participation of EMPLOYEE in “belongs to”
relationship with DEPARTMENT is total since
every employee should belong to a department.

Employee Belongs To Department

¾ E.g. 2: Participation of EMPLOYEE in “manages”

relationship with DEPARTMENT, DEPARTMENT
will have total participation but not EMPLOYEE

Employee Manages Department

¾ Partial participation: some entities may not participate in any

relationship in the relationship set

¾ E.g. 1: Participation of EMPLOYEE in “manages”

relationship with DEPARTMENT, EMPLOYEE will
have partial participation since not all employees
are managers.

Employee Manages Department

18
 Problem in ER Modeling
The Entity-Relationship Model is a conceptual data model that views the real
world as consisting of entities and relationships. The model visually represents
these concepts by the Entity-Relationship diagram. The basic constructs of the ER
model are entities, relationships, and attributes. Entities are concepts, real or
abstract, about which information is collected. Relationships are associations
between the entities. Attributes are properties which describe the entities.

While designing the ER model one could face a problem on the design which is
called a connection traps. Connection traps are problems arising from
misinterpreting certain relationships

There are two types of connection traps;

1. Fan trap:
Occurs where a model represents a relationship between entity types, but
the pathway between certain entity occurrences is ambiguous.
May exist where two or more one-to-many (1:M) relationships fan out
from an entity. The problem could be avoided by restructuring the model
so that there would be no 1:M relationships fanning out from a singe
entity and all the semantics of the relationship is preserved.

Example:

1..* Works 1..1 1..1 IsAssigned 1..*

EMPLOYEE For BRANCH CAR

Semantics description of the problem;

Emp1 Bra1 Car1

Emp2 Bra2 Car2
Emp3 Bra3 Car3
Emp4 Bra4 Car4
Emp5 Car5
Emp6 Car6
Emp7 Car7

Problem: Which car (Car1 or Car3 or Car5) is used by Employee 6 Emp6 working
in Branch 1 (Bra1)? Thus from this ER Model one can not tell which car is used by
which staff since a branch can have more than one car and also a branch is

19
populated by more than one employee. Thus we need to restructure the model to
avoid the connection trap.

To avoid the Fan Trap problem we can go for restructuring of the E-R Model.
This will result in the following E-R Model.

1..1 Has 1..* 1..* Used By 1..*

BRANCH CAR EMPLOYEE

Semantics description of the problem;

Car1
Bra1 Emp1
Car2
Bra2 Emp2
Car3
Bra3 Emp3
Car4
Bra4 Emp4
Car5
Emp5
Car6
Emp6
Car7
Emp7

20
2. Chasm Trap:
Occurs where a model suggests the existence of a relationship between
entity types, but the path way does not exist between certain entity
occurrences.
May exist when there are one or more relationships with a minimum
multiplicity on cardinality of zero forming part of the pathway between
related entities.

Example:

1..1 Has 1..* 0..1 Manages 0..*

BRANCH EMPLOYEE PROJECT

If we have a set of projects that are not active currently then we can not
assign a project manager for these projects. So there are project with no
project manager making the participation to have a minimum value of
zero.

Problem:
How can we identify which BRANCH is responsible for which PROJECT?
We know that whether the PROJECT is active or not there is a responsible
BRANCH. But which branch is a question to be answered, and since we
have a minimum participation of zero between employee and PROJECT
we can’t identify the BRANCH responsible for each PROJECT.

The solution for this Chasm Trap problem is to add another relation ship
between the extreme entities (BRANCH and PROJECT)

1..1 Has 1..* 0..1 Manages 0..*

BRANCH EMPLOYEE PROJECT

1..1 Responsible for 1..*

21
Enhanced E-R (EER) Models
„ Object-oriented extensions to E-R model
„ EER is important when we have a relationship between two entities
and the participation is partial between entity occurrences. In such
cases EER is used to reduce the complexity in participation and
relationship complexity.
„ ER diagrams consider entity types to be primitive objects
„ EER diagrams allow refinements within the structures of entity types

„ EER Concepts
„ Generalization
„ Specialization
„ Sub classes
„ Super classes
„ Attribute Inheritance
„ Constraints on specialization and generalization

22
„ Generalization
¾ Generalization occurs when two or more entities represent categories
of the same real-world object.
¾ Generalization is the process of defining a more general entity type
from a set of more specialized entity types.
¾ A generalization hierarchy is a form of abstraction that specifies that
two or more entities that share common attributes can be generalized
into a higher level entity type.
¾ Is considered as bottom-up definition of entities.
¾ Generalization hierarchy depicts relationship between higher level
superclass and lower level subclass.
Generalization hierarchies can be nested. That is, a subtype of one
hierarchy can be a supertype of another. The level of nesting is limited
only by the constraint of simplicity.
Example: Account is a generalized form for Saving and Current
Accounts

23
„ Specialization
¾ Is the result of subset of a higher level entity set to form a lower level
entity set.
¾ The specialized entities will have additional set of attributes
(distinguishing characteristics) that distinguish them from the
generalized entity.
¾ Is considered as Top-Down definition of entities.
¾ Specialization process is the inverse of the Generalization process.
Identify the distinguishing features of some entity occurrences, and
specialize them into different subclasses.
¾ Reasons for Specialization
o Attributes only partially applying to superclasses
o Relationship types only partially applicable to the superclass
¾ In many cases, an entity type has numerous sub-groupings of its
entities that are meaningful and need to be represented explicitly. This
need requires the representation of each subgroup in the ER model.
The generalized entity is a superclass and the set of specialized entities
will be subclasses for that specific Superclass.
o Example: Saving Accounts and Current Accounts are
Specialized entities for the generalized entity Accounts.
Manager, Sales, Secretary: are specialized employees.

„ Subclass/Subtype
¾ An entity type whose tuples have attributes that distinguish its
members from tuples of the generalized or Superclass entities.
¾ When one generalized Superclass has various subgroups with
distinguishing features and these subgroups are represented by
specialized form, the groups are called subclasses.
¾ Subclasses can be either mutually exclusive (disjoint) or overlapping
(inclusive).
¾ A single subclass may inherit attributes from two distinct superclasses.
¾ A mutually exclusive category/subclass is when an entity instance can
be in only one of the subclasses.
E.g.: An EMPLOYEE can either be SALARIED or PART-TIMER but
not both.
¾ An overlapping category/subclass is when an entity instance may be
in two or more subclasses.
E.g.: A PERSON who works for a university can be both
EMPLOYEE and a STUDENT at the same time.

24
„ Superclass /Supertype
¾ An entity type whose tuples share common attributes. Attributes that
are shared by all entity occurrences (including the identifier) are
associated with the supertype.
¾ Is the generalized entity

„ Relationship Between Superclass and Subclass

¾ The relationship between a superclass and any of its subclasses
is called a superclass/subclass or class/subclass relationship
¾ An instance can not only be a member of a subclass. i.e. Every
instance of a subclass is also an instance in the Superclass.
¾ A member of a subclass is represented as a distinct database
object, a distinct record that is related via the key attribute to its
super-class entity.
¾ An entity cannot exist in the database merely by being a
member of a subclass; it must also be a member of the super-
class.
¾ An entity occurrence of a sub class not necessarily should
belong to any of the subclasses unless there is full participation
in the specialization.
¾ A member of a subclass is represented as a distinct database
object, a distinct record that is related via the key attribute to its
super-class entity.
¾ The relationship between a subclass and a Superclass is an “IS
A” or “IS PART OF” type.
ƒ Subclass IS PART OF Superclass
ƒ Manager IS AN Employee
¾ All subclasses or specialized entity sets should be connected
with the superclass using a line to a circle where there is a
subset symbol indicating the direction of subclass/superclass
relationship.

25
 ¾ We can also have subclasses of a subclass forming a hierarchy
of specialization.
¾ Superclass attributes are shared by all subclasses f that
superclass
¾ Subclass attributes are unique for the subclass.

„ Attribute Inheritance
¾ An entity that is a member of a subclass inherits all the
attributes of the entity as a member of the superclass.
¾ The entity also inherits all the relationships in which the
superclass participates.
¾ An entity may have more than one subclass categories.
¾ All entities/subclasses of a generalized entity or superclass
share a common unique identifier attribute (primary key). i.e.
The primary key of the superclass and subclasses are always
identical.

• Consider the EMPLOYEE supertype entity shown above. This

entity can have several different subtype entities (for example:
HOURLY and SALARIED), each with distinct properties not shared
by other subtypes. But whether the employee is HOURLY or
SALARIED, same attributes (EmployeeId, Name, and DateHired)
are shared.
• The Supertype EMPLOYEE stores all properties that subclasses have
in common. And HOURLY employees have the unique attribute
Wage (hourly wage rate), while SALARIED employees have two
unique attributes, StockOption and Salary.

26
 Constraints on specialization and generalization
„ Completeness Constraint.
• The Completeness Constraint addresses the issue of whether or not an
occurrence of a Superclass must also have a corresponding Subclass
occurrence.
• The completeness constraint requires that all instances of the subtype be
represented in the supertype.
• The Total Specialization Rule specifies that an entity occurrence should
at least be a member of one of the subclasses. Total Participation of
superclass instances on subclasses is diagrammed with a double line from
the Supertype to the circle as shown below.

E.g.: If we have EXTENTION and REGULAR as subclasses of a

superclass STUDENT, then it is mandatory that each student to
be either EXTENTION or REGULAR student. Thus the
participation of instances of STUDENT in EXTENTION and
REGULAR subclasses will be total.

• The Partial Specialization Rule specifies that it is not necessary for all
entity occurrences in the superclass to be a member of one of the
subclasses. Here we have an optional participation on the specialization.
Partial Participation of superclass instances on subclasses is diagrammed
with a single line from the Supertype to the circle.

E.g.: If we have MANAGER and SECRETARY as subclasses of a

superclass EMPLOYEE, then it is not the case that all employees
are either manager or secretary. Thus the participation of
instances of employee in MANAGER and SECRETARY
subclasses will be partial.

27
„ Disjointness Constraints.
• Specifies the rule whether one entity occurrence can be a member of
more than one subclasses. i.e. it is a type of business rule that deals
with the situation where an entity occurrence of a Superclass may
also have more than one Subclass occurrence.
• The Disjoint Rule restricts one entity occurrence of a superclass to
be a member of only one of the subclasses. Example: a EMPLOYEE
can either be SALARIED or PART-TIMER, but not the both at the
same time.
• The Overlap Rule allows one entity occurrence to be a member f
more than one subclass. Example: EMPLOYEE working at the
university can be both a STUDENT and an EMPLOYEE at the same
time.
• This is diagrammed by placing either the letter "d" for disjoint or "o"
for overlapping inside the circle on the Generalization Hierarchy
portion of the E-R diagram.

The two types of constraints on generalization and specialization

(Disjointness and Completeness constraints) are not dependent on one
another. That is, being disjoint will not favour whether the tuples in the
superclass should have Total or Partial participation for that specific
specialization.

From the two types of constraints we can have four possible constraints

„ Disjoint AND Total

„ Disjoint AND Partial

„ Overlapping AND Total

„ Overlapping AND Partial

28
 Normalization
A relational database is merely a collection of data, organized in a particular
manner. As the father of the relational database approach, Codd created a series
of rules called normal forms that help define that organization

One of the best ways to determine what information should be stored in a

database is to clarify what questions will be asked of it and what data would be
included in the answers.

Database normalization is a series of steps followed to obtain a database design

that allows for consistent storage and efficient access of data in a relational
database. These steps reduce data redundancy and the risk of data becoming
inconsistent.

NORMALIZATION is the process of identifying the logical associations

between data items and designing a database that will represent such
associations but without suffering the update anomalies which are;

1. Insertion Anomalies
2. Deletion Anomalies
3. Modification Anomalies

Normalization may reduce system performance since data will be cross

referenced from many tables. Thus denormalization is sometimes used to
improve performance, at the cost of reduced consistency guarantees.

Normalization normally is considered as good if it is lossless decomposition.

Mnemonic for remembering the rationale for normalization could be the

following:

1. No Repeating or Redunduncy: no repeting fields in the table

2. The Fields Depend Upon the Key: the table should solely depend on the key
3. The Whole Key: no partial keybdependency
4. And Nothing But The Key: no inter data dependency
5. So Help Me Codd: because it is the rules of Codd

1
All the normalization rules will eventually remove the update anomalies that
may exist during data manipulation after the implementation. The update
anomalies are;

Pitfalls of Normalization

¾ Requires data to see the problems

¾ May reduce performance of the system
¾ Is time consuming,
¾ Difficult to design and apply and
¾ Prone to human error
The underlying ideas in normalization are simple enough. Through normalization we
want to design for our relational database a set of tables that;
(1) Contain all the data necessary for the purposes that the database is to serve,
(2) Have as little redundancy as possible,
(3) Accommodate multiple values for types of data that require them,
(4) Permit efficient updates of the data in the database, and
(5) Avoid the danger of losing data unknowingly.
The type of problems that could occur in insufficiently normalized table is called update
anomalies which includes;
(1) Insertion anomalies
An "insertion anomaly" is a failure to place information about a new database entry
into all the places in the database where information about that new entry needs to be
stored. In a properly normalized database, information about a new entry needs to be
inserted into only one place in the database; in an inadequately normalized database,
information about a new entry may need to be inserted into more than one place and,
human fallibility being what it is, some of the needed additional insertions may be
missed.
(2) Deletion anomalies
A "deletion anomaly" is a failure to remove information about an existing database
entry when it is time to remove that entry. In a properly normalized database,
information about an old, to-be-gotten-rid-of entry needs to be deleted from only one
place in the database; in an inadequately normalized database, information about that
old entry may need to be deleted from more than one place, and, human fallibility
being what it is, some of the needed additional deletions may be missed.
(3) Modification anomalies
A modification of a database involves changing some value of the attribute of a table.
In a properly normalized database table, what ever information is modified by the
user, the change will be effected and used accordingly.
The purpose of normalization is to reduce the chances for anomalies to occur in
a database.

2
Example of problems related with Anomalies

EmpID FName LName SkillID Skill SkillType School SchoolAdd Skill

Level
12 Abebe Mekuria 2 SQL Database AAU Sidist_Kilo 5
16 Lemma Alemu 5 C++ Programming Unity Gerji 6
28 Chane Kebede 2 SQL Database AAU Sidist_Kilo 10
25 Abera Taye 6 VB6 Programming Helico Piazza 8
65 Almaz Belay 2 SQL Database Helico Piazza 9
24 Dereje Tamiru 8 Oracle Database Unity Gerji 5
51 Selam Belay 4 Prolog Programming Jimma Jimma City 8
94 Alem Kebede 3 Cisco Networking AAU Sidist_Kilo 7
18 Girma Dereje 1 IP Programming Jimma Jimma City 4
13 Yared Gizaw 7 Java Programming AAU Sidist_Kilo 6

Deletion Anomalies:
If employee with ID 16 is deleted then ever information about skill C++ and the
type of skill is deleted from the database. Then we will not have any information
about C++ and its skill type.

Insertion Anomalies:
What if we have a new employee with a skill called Pascal? We can not decide
weather Pascal is allowed as a value for skill and we have no clue about the type
of skill that Pascal should be categorized as.

Modification Anomalies:
What if the address for Helico is changed fro Piazza to Mexico? We need to look
for every occurrence of Helico and change the value of School_Add from Piazza
to Mexico, which is prone to error.

Database-management system can work only with the information that we

put explicitly into its tables for a given database and into its rules for
working with those tables, where such rules are appropriate and possible.

3
 Functional Dependency (FD)
Before moving to the definition and application of normalization, it is important to have
an understanding of "functional dependency."

Data Dependency
The logical association between data items that point the database designer in the
direction of a good database design are refered to as determinant or dependent
relationships.

Two data items A and B are said to be in a determinant or dependent

relationship if certain values of data item B always appears with certain values of
data item A. if the data item A is the determinant data item and B the dependent
data item then the direction of the association is from A to B and not vice versa.

The essence of this idea is that if the existence of something, call it A, implies that B
must exist and have a certain value, then we say that "B is functionally dependent on
A." We also often express this idea by saying that "A determines B," or that "B is a
function of A," or that "A functionally governs B." Often, the notions of functionality and
functional dependency are expressed briefly by the statement, "If A, then B." It is
important to note that the value B must be unique for a given value of A, i.e., any given
value of A must imply just one and only one value of B, in order for the relationship to
qualify for the name "function." (However, this does not necessarily prevent different
values of A from implying the same value of B.)

X Æ Y holds if whenever two tuples have the same value for X, they must have the
same value for Y

The notation is: AÆB which is read as; B is functionally dependent on A

In general, a functional dependency is a relationship among attributes. In relational
databases, we can have a determinant that governs one other attribute or several other
attributes.

FDs are derived from the real-world constraints on the attributes

4
Example
Dinner Course Type of Wine
Meat Red
Fish White
Cheese Rose

Since the type of Wine served depends on the type of Dinner, we say Wine is
functionally dependent on Dinner.
Dinner Æ Wine

Dinner Course Type of Wine Type of Fork

Meat Red Meat fork
Fish White Fish fork
Cheese Rose Cheese fork

Since both Wine type and Fork type are determined by the Dinner type, we say Wine is
functionally dependent on Dinner and Fork is functionally dependent on Dinner.
Dinner Æ Wine
Dinner Æ Fork

Partial Dependency
If an attribute which is not a member of the primary key is dependent on some part of the
primary key (if we have composite primary key) then that attribute is partially
functionally dependent on the primary key.

Let {A,B} is the Primary Key and C is no key attribute.

Then if {A,B}ÆC and BÆC and/or AÆC

Then C is partially functionally dependent on {A,B}

Full Dependency
If an attribute which is not a member of the primary key is not dependent on some part of
the primary key but the whole key (if we have composite primary key) then that attribute
is fully functionally dependent on the primary key.

Let {A,B} is the Primary Key and C is no key attribute

Then if {A,B}ÆC
and BÆC and AÆC both does not hold
Then C Fully functionally dependent on {A,B}

5
Transitive Dependency
In mathematics and logic, a transitive relationship is a relationship of the following form:
"If A implies B, and if also B implies C, then A implies C."

Example:
If Abebe is a Human, and if every Human is an Animal, then Abebe must be an Animal.

Generalized way of describing transitive dependency is that:

If A functionally governs B, AND

If B functionally governs C
THEN A functionally governs C
Provided that neither C nor B determines A (B Æ/Æ A and C Æ/Æ A)
In the normal notation:

{(AÆB) (BÆC) then (AÆC)

AND
Provided that (BÆ/ÆA) and C Æ/Æ A

6
 Steps of Normalization:
We have various levels or steps in normalization called Normal Forms. The level of
complexity, strength of the rule and decomposition increases as we move from one lower
level Normal Form to the higher.

A table in a relational database is said to be in a certain normal form if it satisfies

certain constraints.

normal form below represents a stronger condition than the previous one

Normalization towards a logical design consists of the following steps:

UnNormalized Form:
Identify all data elements
First Normal Form:
Find the key with which you can find all data and manage multivolume attributes
Second Normal Form:
Remove part-key dependencies. Make all data dependent on the whole key.
Third Normal Form
Remove non-key dependencies. Make all data dependent on nothing but the key.
For most practical purposes, databases are considered normalized if they adhere
to third normal form.

First Normal Form (1NF)

Requires that all column values in a table are atomic (e.g., a number is an
atomic value, while a list or a set is not).
We have tow ways of achiving this:
1. Putting each repeating group into a separate table and connecting
them with a primary key-foreign key relationship
2. Moving this repeating groups to a new row by repeating the
common attributes. If so then Find the key with which you can find
all data

Definition of a table (relation) in 1NF

If
¾ There are no duplicated rows in the table. Unique identifier
¾ Each cell is single-valued (i.e., there are no repeating groups).
¾ Entries in a column (attribute, field) are of the same kind.

7
 Example for First Normal form (1NF )
UNNORMALIZED
EmpID FirstName LastName Skill SkillType School SchoolAdd SkillLevel
12 Abebe Mekuria SQL, Database, AAU, Sidist_Kilo 5
VB6 Programming Helico Piazza 8
16 Lemma Alemu C++ Programming Unity Gerji 6
IP Programming Jimma Jimma City 4
28 Chane Kebede SQL Database AAU Sidist_Kilo 10
65 Almaz Belay SQL Database Helico Piazza 9
Prolog Programming Jimma Jimma City 8
Java Programming AAU Sidist_Kilo 6
24 Dereje Tamiru Oracle Database Unity Gerji 5
94 Alem Kebede Cisco Networking AAU Sidist_Kilo 7

FIRST NORMAL FORM (1NF)

Remove all repeating groups. Distribute the multi-valued attributes into different rows
and identify a unique identifier for the relation so that is can be said is a relation in
relational database.
EmpID FirstName LastName SkillID Skill SkillType School SchoolAdd SkillLevel
12 Abebe Mekuria 1 SQL Database AAU Sidist_Kilo 5
12 Abebe Mekuria 3 VB6 Programming Helico Piazza 8
16 Lemma Alemu 2 C++ Programming Unity Gerji 6
16 Lemma Alemu 7 IP Programming Jimma Jimma City 4
28 Chane Kebede 1 SQL Database AAU Sidist_Kilo 10
65 Almaz Belay 1 SQL Database Helico Piazza 9
65 Almaz Belay 5 Prolog Programming Jimma Jimma City 8
65 Almaz Belay 8 Java Programming AAU Sidist_Kilo 6
24 Dereje Tamiru 4 Oracle Database Unity Gerji 5
94 Alem Kebede 6 Cisco Networking AAU Sidist_Kilo 7

8
 Second Normal form 2NF
No partial dependency of a non key attribute on part of the primary key. This will result
in a set of relations with a level of Second Normal Form.
Any table that is in 1NF and has a single-attribute (i.e., a non-composite) key is
automatically also in 2NF.

Definition of a table (relation) in 2NF

¾ It is in 1NF and
¾ If all non-key attributes are dependent on all of the key. i.e. no partial
dependency.

Since a partial dependency occurs when a non-key attribute is dependent on only a

part of the (composite) key, the definition of 2NF is sometimes phrased as, "A table
is in 2NF if it is in 1NF and if it has no partial dependencies."

Example for 2NF:

EMP_PROJ
EmpID EmpName ProjNo ProjName ProjLoc ProjFund ProjMangID

EMP_PROJ rearranged
EmpID ProjNo EmpName ProjName ProjLoc ProjFund ProjMangID

This schema is in its 1NF since we don’t have any repeating groups or attributes with
multi-valued property. To convert it to a 2NF we need to remove all partial dependencies
of non key attributes on part of the primary key.

{EmpID, ProjNo}Æ EmpName, ProjName, ProjLoc, ProjFund, ProjMangID

But in addition to this we have the following dependencies

EmpIDÆEmpName
ProjNoÆProjName, ProjLoc, ProjFund, ProjMangID

As we can see some non key attributes are partially dependent on some part of the
primary key. Thus these collections of attributes should be moved to a new relation.
EMPLOYEE
EmpID EmpName
PROJECT
ProjNo ProjName ProjLoc ProjFund ProjMangID
EMP_PROJ
EmpID ProjNo

9
 Third Normal Form (3NF )
Eliminate Columns Not Dependent On Key - If attributes do not contribute to a
description of the key, remove them to a separate table.
This level avoids update and delete anomalies.

Def of a Table (Relation) in 3NF

¾ It is in 2NF and
¾ There are no transitive dependencies between attributes.

Example for (3NF)

Assumption: Students of same batch (same year) live in one building or dormitory
STUDENT
StudID Stud_F_Name Stud_L_Name Dept Year Dormitary
125/97 Abebe Mekuria Info Sc 1 401
654/95 Lemma Alemu Geog 3 403
842/95 Chane Kebede CompSc 3 403
165/97 Alem Kebede InfoSc 1 401
985/95 Almaz Belay Geog 3 403

This schema is in its 2NF since the primary key is a single attribute.

Let’s take StudID, Year and Dormitary and see the dependencies.

StudIDÆYear AND YearÆDormitary

Then transitively StudIDÆDormitary

To convert it to a 2NF we need to remove all partial dependencies of non

key attributes on part of the primary key.
STUDENT DORM
StudID Stud Stud Dept Year
F_Name L_Name
125/97 Abebe Mekuria Info Sc 1
654/95 Lemma Alemu Geog 3
842/95 Chane Kebede CompSc 3
165/97 Alem Kebede InfoSc 1
985/95 Almaz Belay Geog 3

10
Year Dormitary
1 401
3 403

11
Boyce-Codd Normal Form (BCNF):
Isolate Independent Multiple Relationships - No table may contain two or more 1:n or N:M
relationships that are not directly related.

The correct solution, to cause the model to be in 4th normal form, is to ensure that all M:M
relationships are resolved independently if they are indeed independent, as shown below.

Def: A table is in BCNF if it is in 3NF and if every determinant is a candidate key.

Forth Normal form (4NF)

Isolate Semantically Related Multiple Relationships - There may be practical constrains on
information that justify separating logically related many-to-many relationships.
Def: A table is in 4NF if it is in BCNF and if it has no multi-valued dependencies.

Fifth Normal Form (5NF)

A model limited to only simple (elemental) facts, as expressed in ORM.
Def: A table is in 5NF, also called "Projection-Join Normal Form" (PJNF), if it is in
4NF and if every join dependency in the table is a consequence of the candidate
keys of the table.

Domain-Key Normal Form (DKNF)

A model free from all modification anomalies.

Def: A table is in DKNF if every constraint on the table is a logical consequence of the
definition of keys and domains.

12
 Physical Database Design
Methodology for Relational Database
ƒ The Logical database design is concerned with the what;
ƒ The Physical database design is concerned with the how.
ƒ Physical database design is the process of producing a
description of the implementation of the database on
secondary storage. It describes the base relations, file
organization, and indexes used to achieve effective access to
the data along with any associated integrity constraints and
security measures.
ƒ Physical design describes the base relation, file organization,
and indexes used to achieve efficient access to the data, and
any associated integrity constraints and security measures.
ƒ Sources of information for the physical design process include
global logical data model and documentation that describes
model.
ƒ Describes the storage structures and access methods used to
achieve efficient access to the data
ƒ Knowledge of the DBMS that is selected to host the database
systems, with all its functionalities, is required since
functionalities of current DBMS vary widely.

Steps in physical database design

1. Translate logical data model for target DBMS
ƒ To determine the file organizations and access methods
that will be used to store the base relations; i.e. the way in
which relations and tuples will be held on secondary
storage
ƒ To decide how to represent the base relations we have
identified in the global logical data model in the target
DBMS.
ƒ Design enterprise constraints for target DBMS

1.1. Design base relation

1.2. Design representation of derived data
1.3. Design enterprise constraint

2. Design physical representation

2.1. Analyze transactions

1
 To understand the functionality of the transactions that
will run on the database and to analyze the important
transactions

2.2. Choose file organization

To determine an efficient file organization for each base
relation

2.3. Choose indexes

2.4. Estimate disk space and system requirement
To estimate the amount of disk space that will be
required by the database

3. Design user view

To design the user views that were identified in the conceptual
database design methodology

4. Design security mechanisms

5. Consider controlled redundancy
To determine whether introducing redundancy in a
controlled manner by relaxing the normalization rules will
improve the performance of the system.

6. Monitor and tune the operational system

Design access rules

To design the access rules to the base relations and user views

2
1. Translate logical data model for target DBMS
This phase is the translation of the global logical data model to produce
a relational database schema in the target DBMS. This includes creating
the data dictionary based on the logical model and information
gathered.
After the creation of the data dictionary, the next activity is to
understand the functionality of the target DBMS so that all necessary
requirements are fulfilled for the database intended to be developed.

Knowledge of the DBMS includes:

¾ how to create base relations
¾ whether the system supports:
o definition of Primary key
o definition of Foreign key
o definition of Alternate key
o definition of Domains
o Referential integrity constraints
o definition of enterprise level constraints

1.1. Design base relation

Designing base relation involves identification of all necessary
requirements about a relation starting from the name up to the
referential integrity constraints.

The implementation of the physical model is dependent on the target

DBMS since some has more facilities than the other in defining database
definitions.
The base relation design along with every justifiable reason should be
fully documented.

1.2. Design representation of derived data

While analyzing the requirement of users, we may encounter that there
are some attributes holding data that will be derived from existing or
other attributes. A decision on how to represent such data should be
devised.

3
Most of the time derived attributes are not expressed in the logical
model but will be included in the data dictionary. Whether to store
stored attributes in a base relation or calculate them when required is a
decision to be made by the designer considering the performance
impact.

The representation of derived attributes should be fully documented.

1.3. Design enterprise constraint

Data in the database is not only subjected to constraints on the database
and the data model used but also with some enterprise dependent
constraints.
This constraint definition is also dependent on the DBMS selected and
enterprise level requirements.

All the enterprise level constraints and the definition method in the
target DBMS should be fully documented.

4
 Relational Query Languages
„ Query languages: Allow manipulation and retrieval of data from a
database.
„ Query Languages != programming languages!
„ QLs not intended to be used for complex calculations.
„ QLs support easy, efficient access to large data sets.
„ Relational model supports simple, powerful query languages.

Formal Relational Query Languages

„ There are varieties of Query languages used by relational DBMS for
manipulating relations.

„ Some of them are procedural

„ User tells the system exactly what and how to manipulate the
data
„ Others are non-procedural
„ User states what data is needed rather than how it is to be
retrieved.

Two mathematical Query Languages form the basis for Relational languages
„ Relational Algebra:
„ Relational Calculus:

„ We may describe the relational algebra as procedural language: it can

be used to tell the DBMS how to build a new relation from one or more
relations in the database.
„ We may describe relational calculus as a non procedural language: it
can be used to formulate the definition of a relation in terms of one or
more database relations.
„ Formally the relational algebra and relational calculus are equivalent to
each other. For every expression in the algebra, there is an equivalent
expression in the calculus.
„ Both are non-user friendly languages. They have been used as the
basis for other, higher-level data manipulation languages for relational
databases.

A query is applied to relation instances, and the result of a query is also a

relation instance.
„ Schemas of input relations for a query are fixed
„ The schema for the result of a given query is also fixed!
Determined by definition of query language constructs.

Relational Algebra

1
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 the 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).

„ Relational algebra is a theoretical language with operations that work

on one or more relations to define another relation without changing
the original relation.
„ The output from one operation can become the input to another
operation (nesting is possible)

„ There are different basic operations that could be applied

on relations on a database based on the requirement.
„ Selection ( σ ) Selects a subset of rows from a relation.
„ Projection ( π ) Deletes unwanted columns from a relation.
„ Renaming: assigning intermediate relation for a single
operation
„ Cross-Product ( x ) Allows us to combine two relations.
„ Set-Difference ( - ) Tuples in relation1, but not in relation2.
„ Union (∪ ) Tuples in relation1 or in relation2.
„ Intersection (∩) Tuples in relation1 and in relation2
„ Join Tuples joined from two relations based on a condition

„ Using these we can build up sophisticated database queries.

2
 Table1:
Sample table used to illustrate different kinds of relational
operations. The relation contains information about employees,
IT skills they have and the school where they attend each skill.

Employee
EmpID FName LName SkillID Skill SkillType School SchoolAdd SkillLevel
12 Abebe Mekuria 2 SQL Database AAU Sidist_Kilo 5
16 Lemma Alemu 5 C++ Programming Unity Gerji 6
28 Chane Kebede 2 SQL Database AAU Sidist_Kilo 10
25 Abera Taye 6 VB6 Programming Helico Piazza 8
65 Almaz Belay 2 SQL Database Helico Piazza 9
24 Dereje Tamiru 8 Oracle Database Unity Gerji 5
51 Selam Belay 4 Prolog Programming Jimma Jimma City 8
94 Alem Kebede 3 Cisco Networking AAU Sidist_Kilo 7
18 Girma Dereje 1 IP Programming Jimma Jimma City 4
13 Yared Gizaw 7 Java Programming AAU Sidist_Kilo 6

3
Selection
„ Selects subset of tuples/rows in a relation that satisfy selection
condition.
„ Selection operation is a unary operator (it is applied to a single
relation)
„ The Selection operation is applied to each tuple individually
„ The degree of the resulting relation is the same as the original relation
but the cardinality (no. of tuples) is less than or equal to the original
relation.
„ The Selection operator is commutative.
„ Set of conditions can be combined using Boolean operations (∧(AND),
∨(OR), and ~(NOT))
„ No duplicates in result!
„ Schema of result identical to schema of (only) input relation.
„ Result relation can be the input for another relational algebra operation!
(Operator composition.)
„ It is a filter that keeps only those tuples that satisfy a qualifying
condition (those satisfying the condition are selected while others are
discarded.)

Notation:
 <Selection Condition> <Relation Name>
Example: Find all Employees with skill type of Database.

 < SkillType =”Database”> (Employee)

This query will extract every tuple from a relation called Employee with all
the attributes where the SkillType attribute with a value of “Database”.

The resulting relation will be the following.

EmpID FName LName SkillID Skill SkillType School SchoolAdd SkillLevel

12 Abebe Mekuria 2 SQL Database AAU Sidist_Kilo 5
28 Chane Kebede 2 SQL Database AAU Sidist_Kilo 10
65 Almaz Belay 2 SQL Database Helico Piazza 9
24 Dereje Tamiru 8 Oracle Database Unity Gerji 5

If the query is all employees with a SkillType Database and School Unity the
relational algebra operation and the resulting relation will be as follows.

 < SkillType =”Database” AND School=”Unity”> (Employee)

EmpID FName LName SkillID Skill SkillType School SchoolAdd SkillLevel
24 Dereje Tamiru 8 Oracle Database Unity Gerji 5

4
Projection
„ Selects certain attributes while discarding the other from the base
relation.
„ The PROJECT creates a vertical partitioning – one with the needed
columns (attributes) containing results of the operation and other
containing the discarded Columns.
„ Deletes attributes that are not in projection list.
„ Schema of result contains exactly the fields in the projection list, with
the same names that they had in the (only) input relation.
„ Projection operator has to eliminate duplicates!
„ Note: real systems typically don’t do duplicate elimination
unless the user explicitly asks for it.
„ If the Primary Key is in the projection list, then duplication will not
occur
„ Duplication removal is necessary to insure that the resulting table is
also a relation.

Notation:
π <Selected Attributes> <Relation Name>
Example: To display Name, Skill, and Skill Level of an employee, the query
and the resulting relation will be:

π <FName, LName, Skill, Skill_Level> (Employee)

FName LName Skill SkillLevel
Abebe Mekuria SQL 5
Lemma Alemu C++ 6
Chane Kebede SQL 10
Abera Taye VB6 8
Almaz Belay SQL 9
Dereje Tamiru Oracle 5
Selam Belay Prolog 8
Alem Kebede Cisco 7
Girma Dereje IP 4
Yared Gizaw Java 6

If we want to have the Name, Skill, and Skill Level of an employee with Skill
SQL and SkillLevel greater than 5 the query will be:

π <FName, LName, Skill, Skill_Level> ( <Skill=”SQL” ∧ SkillLevel>5> (Employee))

FName LName Skill SkillLevel
Chane Kebede SQL 10
Almaz Belay SQL 9

5
 Rename Operation
„ We may want to apply several relational algebra operations one after
the other. The query could be written in two different forms:
1. Write the operations as a single relational algebra expression
by nesting the operations.
2. 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 resultsÎRename
Operation

If we want to have the Name, Skill, and Skill Level of an employee with salary
greater than 1500 and working for department 5, we can write the expression
for this query using the two alternatives:

1. A single algebraic expression:

The above used query is using a single algebra operation, which is:

π <FName, LName, Skill, Skill_Level> ( 

<Skill=”SQL” ∧ SkillLevel>5> (Employee))

2. Using an intermediate relation by the Rename

Operation:

Step1: Result1 Å  <DeptNo=5 ∧ Salary>1500> (Employee)

Step2: ResultÅ π <FName, LName, Skill, Skill_Level> (Result1)

Then Result will be equivalent with the relation we get using the
first alternative.

6
UNION Operation
The result of this operation, denoted by R U 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.
The two operands must be “type compatible”.

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).

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"

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”.

Some Properties of the Set Operators

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-nary 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

7
 CARTESIAN (cross product) Operation
This operation is used to combine tuples from two relations in a combinatorial
fashion. That means, every tuple in Relation1(R) one will be related with
every other tuple in Relation2 (S).
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.
Where R has n attributes and S has m attributes.
The resulting relation Q has one tuple for each combination of tuples—one
from R and one from S.
Hence, if R has n tuples, and S has m tuples, then | R x S | will have n* m
tuples.

The two operands do NOT have to be "type compatible”

Example
Employee
ID FName LName
123 Abebe Lemma
567 Belay Taye
822 Kefle Kebede

Dept
DeptID DeptName MangID
2 Finance 567
3 Personnel 123

Then Employee X Dept will be of the form:

ID FName LName DeptID DeptName MangID
123 Abebe Lemma 2 Finance 567
123 Abebe Lemma 3 Personnel 123
567 Belay Taye 2 Finance 567
567 Belay Taye 3 Personnel 123
822 Kefle Kebede 2 Finance 567
822 Kefle Kebede 3 Personnel 123
Then to extract employee information about managers of the departments, the
algebra query and the resulting relation will be.

π <ID, FName, LName, DeptName > (  <ID=MangID> (Employee X Dept))

ID FName LName DeptName
123 Abebe Lemma Personnel
567 Belay Taye Finance

8
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. Thus in JOIN operation, the Cartesian Operation and the
Selection Operations are used together.
JOIN Operation is denoted by a symbol.
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 Is equivalent to  <selection condition> (R X S)

where <join condition> and <selection condition> are the same

Where R and S can be any relations that result from general relational algebra
expressions. Since JOIN function in two relation, it is a Binary operation.

This type of JOIN is called a THETA JOIN (θ - JOIN)

Where θ is the logical operator used in the join condition.
θ Could be { <, ≤ , >, ≥, ≠, = }
Example:
Thus in the above example we want to extract employee information
about managers of the departments, the algebra query using the JOIN
operation will be.

Employee < ID=MangID> Dept

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 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 since we used the equality logical operator.
For example, the above JOIN expression is an EQUIJOIN since the
logical operator used is the equal to operator ( =).

NATURAL JOIN Operation

We have seen that in EQUIJOIN one of each pair of attributes with
identical values is extra, a new operation called natural join was

9
created to get rid of the second (or extra) attribute that we will have in
the result of 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 on
the attributes is applied first.

OUTER JOIN Operation

OUTER JOIN is another version of the JOIN operation where non
matching tuples from the first Relation are also included in the resulting
Relation where attributes of the second Relation for a non matching
tuples from Relation one will have a value of NULL.

Notation:

R <Join Condition > S

When two relations are joined by a JOIN operator, there could be some
tuples in the first relation not having a matching tuple from the second
relation, and the query is interested to display these non matching
tuples from the first relation. Such query is represented by the OUTER
JOIN.

SEMIJOIN Operation
SEMI JOIN is another version of the JOIN operation where the resulting
Relation will contain those attributes of Relation one that are related
with tuples in the second Relation.

R <Join Condition> S

10
Relational Calculus
A relational calculus expression creates a new relation, which is
specified in terms of variables that range over rows of the stored
database relations (in tuple calculus) or over columns of the stored
relations (in domain calculus).

In a calculus expression, there is no order of operations to specify how

to retrieve the query result. A calculus expression specifies only what
information the result should contain rather than how to retrieve it.

In Relational calculus, there is no description of how to evaluate a

query, this is the main distinguishing feature between relational algebra
and relational calculus.

Relational calculus is considered to be a nonprocedural language. This

differs from relational algebra, where we must write a sequence of
operations to specify a retrieval request; hence relational algebra can be
considered as a procedural way of stating a query.

When applied to relational database, the calculus is not that of

derivative and differential but in a form of first-order logic or predicate
calculus, a predicate is a truth-valued function with arguments.

When we substitute values for the arguments in the predicate, the

function yields an expression, called a proposition, which can be either
true or false.

If a predicate contains a variable, as in ‘x is a member of staff’, there

must be a range for x. When we substitute some values of this range
for x, the proposition may be true; for other values, it may be false.

If COND is a predicate, then the set off all tuples evaluated to be true
for the predicate COND will be expressed as follows:
{t | COND(t)}

11
 Where t is a tuple variable and COND (t) is a conditional
expression involving t. The result of such a query is the set of all
tuples t that satisfy COND (t).
If we have set of predicates to evaluate for a single query, the predicates
can be connected using ∧(AND), ∨(OR), and ~(NOT)

A relational calculus expression creates a new relation, which is

specified in terms of variables that range over rows of the stored
database relations (in tuple calculus) or over columns of the stored
relations (in domain calculus).

Tuple-oriented Relational Calculus

¾ The tuple relational calculus is based on specifying a number of
tuple variables. Each tuple variable usually ranges over a
particular database relation, meaning that the variable may take
as its value any individual tuple from that relation.
¾ Tuple relational calculus is interested in finding tuples for which
a predicate is true for a relation. Based on use of tuple variables.
¾ Tuple variable is a variable that ‘ranges over’ a named relation:
that is, a variable whose only permitted values are tuples of the
relation.
¾ If E is a tuple that ranges over a relation employee, then it is
represented as EMPLOYEE(E) i.e. Range of E is EMPLOYEE

¾ Then to extract all tuples that satisfy a certain condition, we will

represent is as all tuples E such that COND(E) is evaluated to be
true.
{E ⁄ COND(E)}

The predicates can be connected using the Boolean operators:

∧ (AND), ∨ (OR), ∼ (NOT)

COND(t) is a formula, and is called a Well-Formed-Formula (WFF) if:

¾ Where the COND is composed of n-nary predicates
(formula composed of n single predicates) and the
predicates are connected by any of the Boolean operators.
¾ And each predicate is of the form A θ B and θ is one of the
logical operators { <, ≤ , >, ≥, ≠, = }which could be

12
 evaluated to either true or false. And A and B are either
constant or variables.
¾ Formulae should be unambiguous and should make sense.

Example (Tuple Relational Calculus)

¾ Extract all employees whose skill level is greater than or equal to
8
{E | Employee(E) ∧ E.SkillLevel >= 8}

EmpID FName LName SkillID Skill SkillType School SchoolAdd SkillLevel

28 Chane Kebede 2 SQL Database AAU Sidist_Kilo 10
25 Abera Taye 6 VB6 Programming Helico Piazza 8
65 Almaz Belay 2 SQL Database Helico Piazza 9
51 Selam Belay 4 Prolog Programming Jimma Jimma City 8

¾ To find only the EmpId, FName, LName, Skill and the School
where the skill is attended where of employees with skill level
greater than or equal to 8, the tuple based relational calculus
expression will be:

{E.EmpId, E.FName, E.LName, E.Skill, E.School | Employee(E) ∧ E.SkillLevel >=

8}

EmpID FName LName Skill School

28 Chane Kebede SQL AAU
25 Abera Taye VB6 Helico
65 Almaz Belay SQL Helico
51 Selam Belay Prolog Jimma

¾ E.FName means the value of the First Name (FName) attribute

for the tuple E.

13
Quantifiers in Relation Calculus
¾ To tell how many instances the predicate applies to, we can use
the two quantifiers in the predicate logic.
¾ One relational calculus expressed using Existential Quantifier can
also be expressed using Universal Quantifier.

1. Existential quantifier ∃ (‘there exists’)

Existential quantifier used in formulae that must be true for
at least one instance, such as:
An employee with skill level greater than or equal to 8 will
be:
{E | Employee(E) ∧ (∃E)(E.SkillLevel >= 8)}
This means, there exist at least one tuple of the relation
employee where the value for the SkillLevel is greater than or
equal to 8

2. Universal quantifier ∀ (‘for all’)

Universal quantifier is used in statements about every
instance, such as:
An employee with skill level greater than or equal to 8 will
be:
{E | Employee(E) ∧ (∀E)(E.SkillLevel >= 8)}

This means, for all tuples of relation employee where value

for the SkillLevel attribute is greater than or equal to 8.

Example:

Let’s say that we have the following Schema (set of Relations)

Employee(EID, FName, LName, Dept)

Project(PID, PName, Dept)
Dept(DID, DName, DMangID)
WorksOn(EID, PID)

To find employees who work on projects controlled by department 5

the query will be:
{E | Employee(E) ∧ (∀x)(Project(x) ∧ (∃w)(WorksOn(w) ∧ x.Dept=5 ∧
E.EID=W.EID))}

14