Chapter 2: Intro to Relational Model

Database System Concepts, 7th Ed.

©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
See www.db-book.com for conditions on re-use
 Outline
 Structure of Relational Databases
 Database Schema
 Keys
 Schema Diagrams
 Relational Query Languages
 The Relational Algebra

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

attributes
(or columns)

tuples
(or rows)

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.3 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Attribute

 The set of allowed values for each attribute is called the

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

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.4 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Relations are Unordered

 Order of tuples is irrelevant (tuples may be stored in an arbitrary

order)
 Example: instructor relation with unordered tuples

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.5 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Database Schema
 Database schema -- is the logical structure of the database.
 Database instance -- is a snapshot of the data in the
database at a given instant in time.
 Example:
• schema: instructor (ID, name, dept_name, salary)
• Instance:

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.6 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Keys
 Let K ⊆ R
 K is a superkey of R if values for K are sufficient to identify a unique
tuple of each possible relation r(R)
• Example: {ID} and {ID,name} are both superkeys of instructor.
 Superkey K is a candidate key if K is minimal
Example: {ID} is a candidate key for Instructor
 One of the candidate keys is selected to be the primary key.
• which one?
 Foreign key constraint: Value in one relation must appear in another
• Referencing relation
• Referenced relation
• Example – dept_name in instructor is a foreign key from instructor
referencing department

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.7 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Schema Diagram for University Database

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.8 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Relational Query Languages
 Procedural versus non-procedural, or declarative
 “Pure” languages:
• Relational algebra
• Tuple relational calculus
• Domain relational calculus
 The above 3 pure languages are equivalent in computing
power
 We will concentrate in this chapter on relational algebra
• Not turning-machine equivalent
• Consists of 6 basic operations

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.9 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Relational Algebra
 A procedural language consisting of a set of operations that take
one or two relations as input and produce a new relation as their
result.
 Six basic operators
• select: σ
• project: ∏
• union: ∪
• set difference: –
• Cartesian product: x
• rename: ρ

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.10 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Select Operation
 The select operation selects tuples that satisfy a given predicate.
 Notation: σ p(r)
 p is called the selection predicate
 Example: select those tuples of the instructor relation where the
instructor is in the “Physics” department.
• Query

σ dept_name=“Physics” (instructor)

• Result

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.11 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Select Operation (Cont.)
 We allow comparisons using
=, ≠, >, ≥. <. ≤
in the selection predicate.
 We can combine several predicates into a larger predicate by using the
connectives:
∧ (and), ∨ (or), ¬ (not)
 Example: Find the instructors in Physics with a salary greater $90,000,
we write:

σ dept_name=“Physics” ∧ salary > 90,000 (instructor)

 Then select predicate may include comparisons between two

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

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.12 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Project Operation
 A unary operation that returns its argument relation, with
certain attributes left out.
 Notation:
∏ A1,A2,A3 ….Ak (r)
where A1, A2 are attribute names and r is a relation name.
 The result is defined as the relation of k columns obtained
by erasing the columns that are not listed
 Duplicate rows removed from result, since relations are
sets

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.13 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Project Operation (Cont.)
 Example: eliminate the dept_name attribute of instructor
 Query:

∏ID, name, salary (instructor)

 Result:

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.14 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Composition of Relational Operations

 The result of a relational-algebra operation is relation and

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

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

 Instead of giving the name of a relation as the argument of the

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

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.15 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Cartesian-Product Operation
 The Cartesian-product operation (denoted by X) allows us
to combine information from any two relations.
 Example: the Cartesian product of the relations instructor
and teaches is written as:
instructor X teaches
 We construct a tuple of the result out of each possible pair
of tuples: one from the instructor relation and one from the
teaches relation (see next slide)
 Since the instructor ID appears in both relations we
distinguish between these attribute by attaching to the
attribute the name of the relation from which the attribute
originally came.
• instructor.ID
• teaches.ID

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.16 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 The instructor X teaches table

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.17 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Join Operation
 The Cartesian-Product
instructor X teaches
associates every tuple of instructor with every tuple of
teaches.
• Most of the resulting rows have information about instructors
who did NOT teach a particular course.
 To get only those tuples of “instructor X teaches “ that pertain
to instructors and the courses that they taught, we write:
σ instructor.id = teaches.id (instructor x teaches ))

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

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

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.18 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Join Operation (Cont.)
 The table corresponding to:
σ instructor.id = teaches.id (instructor x teaches))

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.19 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Join Operation (Cont.)
 The join operation allows us to combine a select operation
and a Cartesian-Product operation into a single operation.
 Consider relations r (R) and s (S)
 Let “theta” be a predicate on attributes in the schema R “union”
S. The join operation r ⋈𝜃𝜃 s is defined as follows:
𝑟𝑟 ⋈𝜃𝜃 𝑠𝑠 = 𝜎𝜎𝜃𝜃 (𝑟𝑟 × 𝑠𝑠)

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

 Can equivalently be written as

instructor ⋈ Instructor.id = teaches.id teaches.

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.20 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Union Operation
 The union operation allows us to combine two relations
 Notation: r ∪ s
 For r ∪ s to be valid.
1. r, s must have the same arity (same number of attributes)
2. The attribute domains must be compatible (example: 2nd
column
of r deals with the same type of values as does the 2nd
column of s)
 Example: to find all courses taught in the Fall 2017 semester,
or in the Spring 2018 semester, or in both

∏course_id (σ semester=“Fall” Λ year=2017 (section)) ∪

∏course_id (σ semester=“Spring” Λ year=2018 (section))

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.21 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Union Operation (Cont.)

 Result of:
∏course_id (σ semester=“Fall” Λ year=2017 (section)) ∪

∏course_id (σ semester=“Spring” Λ year=2018 (section))

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.22 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Set-Intersection Operation
 The set-intersection operation allows us to find tuples that
are in both the input relations.
 Notation: r ∩ s
 Assume:
• r, s have the same arity
• attributes of r and s are compatible
 Example: Find the set of all courses taught in both the Fall
2017 and the Spring 2018 semesters.
∏course_id (σ semester=“Fall” Λ year=2017 (section)) ∩
∏course_id (σ semester=“Spring” Λ year=2018 (section))

• Result

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.23 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Set Difference Operation
 The set-difference operation allows us to find tuples that are in one
relation but are not in another.
 Notation r – s
 Set differences must be taken between compatible relations.
• r and s must have the same arity
• attribute domains of r and s must be compatible
 Example: to find all courses taught in the Fall 2017 semester, but
not in the Spring 2018 semester
∏course_id (σ semester=“Fall” Λ year=2017 (section)) −
∏course_id (σ semester=“Spring” Λ year=2018 (section))

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.24 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 The Assignment Operation
 It is convenient at times to write a relational-algebra expression
by assigning parts of it to temporary relation variables.
 The assignment operation is denoted by ← and works like
assignment in a programming language.
 Example: Find all instructor in the “Physics” and Music
department.

Physics ← σ dept_name=“Physics” (instructor)

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

 With the assignment operation, a query can be written as a

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

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.25 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 The Rename Operation
 The results of relational-algebra expressions do not have a
name that we can use to refer to them. The rename operator,
ρ , is provided for that purpose
 The expression:
ρx (E)
returns the result of expression E under the name x
 Another form of the rename operation:
ρx(A1,A2, .. An) (E)

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.26 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Equivalent Queries
 There is more than one way to write a query in relational algebra.
 Example: Find information about courses taught by instructors in
the Physics department with salary greater than 90,000
 Query 1
σ dept_name=“Physics” ∧ salary > 90,000 (instructor)

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

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

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.27 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Equivalent Queries
 There is more than one way to write a query in relational algebra.
 Example: Find information about courses taught by instructors in
the Physics department
 Query 1
σdept_name=“Physics” (instructor ⋈ instructor.ID = teaches.ID teaches)

 Query 2
(σdept_name=“Physics” (instructor)) ⋈ instructor.ID = teaches.ID teaches

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

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.28 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 End of Chapter 2

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.29 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan