Database Concepts

Relational Algebra
Database System Concepts, 7th Ed.
©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
See www.db-book.com for conditions on re-use
 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: 
• project: 
• union: 
• set difference: –
• Cartesian product: x
• rename: 

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.2 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Relational Algebra

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

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

▪ Notation:  p (r)

▪ p is called the selection predicate

▪ Works on a single relation r and defines a relation that contains only

those tuples (rows) of r that satisfy the specified condition (predicate).

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.4 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Select Operation
▪ The select operation selects tuples that satisfy a given predicate.
▪ Notation:  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
 dept_name=“Physics” (instructor)

• Result?

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.5 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Select Operation
▪ The select operation selects tuples that satisfy a given predicate.
▪ Notation:  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
 dept_name=“Physics” (instructor)

• Result

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.6 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Practice
▪ Notation:  p (r)
▪ select those tuples of the instructor relation where the name Wu
• Query?

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.7 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Practice
▪ Notation:  p (r)
▪ select those tuples of the instructor relation where the name Wu
• Query
 name=“Wu” (instructor)

• Result

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.8 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Practice
▪ Notation:  p (r)
▪ select those tuples of the instructor relation where the name Wu
• Query
 name=“Wu” (instructor)

• Result

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.9 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Practice
▪ select those tuples of the instructor relation where the salary is 80000
• Query?

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.10 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Practice
▪ select those tuples of the instructor relation where the salary is 80000
• Query
 salary=“80000” (instructor)?
•  salary=80000 (instructor)?

• Result

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.11 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Practice
▪ select those tuples of the instructor relation where the salary is 80000
• Query
 salary=80000 (instructor)

• Result

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.12 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Select Operation (Cont.)

We allow comparisons using:

▪ _____=_____
▪ ___________
▪ ___________
▪ ___________
▪ ___________
▪ ___________
in the selection predicate.

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.13 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Select Operation (Cont.)

We allow comparisons using:

• =,
• ,
• >,
• .
• <.
• 
in the selection predicate.

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.14 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Select Operation

▪ List all staff with a salary greater than $10,000.

(relation name: staff)

Query?

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.15 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Select Operation

▪ List all staff with a salary greater than $10,000.

Query: salary > 10000 (Staff)

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.16 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Select Operation (Cont.)
▪ We can combine several predicates into a larger predicate by using the
connectives:
_____________
_____________
_____________

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.17 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Select Operation (Cont.)
▪ 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.

Query?

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.18 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Select Operation (Cont.)
▪ 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,

 dept_name=“Physics”  salary > 90,000 (instructor)

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.19 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Select Operation (Cont.)
The select predicate may include comparisons between two attributes.
• Example, find all departments whose name is the same as their
building name:
• Query?

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.20 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Select Operation (Cont.)
The select predicate may include comparisons between two attributes.
• Example, find all departments whose name is the same as their
building name:
• Query:  dept_name=building (department)

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.21 ©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:

 dept_name=“Physics”  salary > 90,000 (instructor)

▪ The select predicate may include comparisons between two attributes.

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

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.22 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Project Operation

▪ A __________ operation that returns its argument relation, with certain

attributes left out.
▪ Notation:
 A1,A2,A3 ….Ak (r)
where A1, A2, …, Ak are attribute names and r is a relation name.

▪ The result is defined as the relation of k columns obtained by erasing

the columns that are not listed
▪ Duplicate rows removed from result, since relations are sets

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.23 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Project Operation

▪ A unary operation that returns its argument relation, with certain

attributes left out.
▪ Notation:
 A1,A2,A3 ….Ak (r)
where A1, A2, …, Ak are attribute names and r is a relation name.

Recall Selection operation:

▪ Notation:  p (r), p is called the selection predicate
▪ Example:  dept_name=“Physics” (instructor)

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.24 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Project Operation Example

▪ Example: eliminate the dept_name attribute of instructor

▪ Query?

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.25 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Project Operation Example

▪ Example: eliminate the dept_name attribute of instructor

▪ Query:
ID, name, salary (instructor)

▪ Result ?

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.26 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Project Operation Example

▪ Example: eliminate the dept_name attribute of instructor

▪ Query:
ID, name, salary (instructor)

▪ Result:

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.27 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Project Operation

▪ A unary operation that returns its argument relation, with certain

attributes left out.
▪ Notation:
 A1,A2,A3 ….Ak (r)
where A1, A2, …, Ak are attribute names and r is a relation name.

▪ The result is defined as the relation of k columns obtained by erasing

the columns that are not listed

▪ Duplicate rows removed from result, since relations are sets

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.28 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Project Operation

Produce a list of salaries for all staff, showing only staffNo, fName,
lName, and salary details.
Query?

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

Produce a list of salaries for all staff, showing only staffNo, fName,
lName, and salary details.
staffNo, fName, lName, salary(Staff)

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.30 ©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.

Query?

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.31 ©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( dept_name =“Physics” (instructor))

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.32 ©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.

Query:
name( dept_name =“Physics” (instructor))

Result?

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.33 ©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.

Query:
name( dept_name =“Physics” (instructor))

Result:
dept_name
Einstein
Gold
Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.34 ©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.

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.35 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 The instructor X teaches table

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.36 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Cartesian-Product Operation

▪ 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.

▪ Question: instructor relation has m tuples, teaches relation has n tuples,

then how many tuples after the Cartesian-Product Operation?

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.37 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 The instructor X teaches table

m * n tuples

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.38 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Cartesian-Product Operation

▪ Since the instructor ID appears in both relations we distinguish between

these attribute by________________.

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.39 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Cartesian-Product Operation

▪ 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 2.40 ©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:
Query?

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

instructors and the courses that they taught.

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.41 ©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:

 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 2.42 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Join Operation (Cont.)

▪ The table corresponding to:

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

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.43 ©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 ⋈𝜃 s is defined as follows:
𝑟 ⋈𝜃 𝑠 = 𝜎𝜃 (𝑟 × 𝑠)

▪ Thus
 instructor.id = teaches.id (instructor x teaches ))

▪ Can equivalently be written as

___________________________________

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.44 ©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 ⋈𝜃 s is defined as follows:
𝑟 ⋈𝜃 𝑠 = 𝜎𝜃 (𝑟 × 𝑠)

▪ Thus
 instructor.id = teaches.id (instructor x teaches ))

▪ Can equivalently be written as

instructor ⋈ Instructor.id = teaches.id teaches.

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.45 ©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)

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.46 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Union Operation

▪ The union operation allows us to combine two relations; Notation: r  s

▪ Example: to find all courses taught in the Fall 2017 semester, or in the
Spring 2018 semester, or in both

Query?

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.47 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Union Operation
▪ The union operation allows us to combine two relations; Notation: r  s
▪ Example: In the Section relation, to find all courses (course ID) taught in
the Fall 2017 semester, or in the Spring 2018 semester, or in both

Query:

course_id ( semester=“Fall” Λ year=2017 (section)) 

course_id ( semester=“Spring” Λ year=2018 (section))

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.48 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Union Operation
▪ The union operation allows us to combine two relations; Notation: r  s
▪ Example: In the Section relation, to find all courses taught in the Fall 2017
semester, or in the Spring 2018 semester, or in both

Query: course_id ( semester=“Fall” Λ year=2017 (section)) 

course_id ( semester=“Spring” Λ year=2018 (section))

Result?

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.49 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Union Operation
▪ The union operation allows us to combine two relations; Notation: r  s
▪ Example: In the Section relation, to find all courses taught in the Fall 2017
semester, or in the Spring 2018 semester, or in both

Query: course_id ( semester=“Fall” Λ year=2017 (section)) 

course_id ( semester=“Spring” Λ year=2018 (section))

Result?

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.50 ©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 _______;
• attributes of r and s are __________;

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.51 ©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

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.52 ©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
▪ Example: Find the set of all courses taught in both the Fall 2017 and the
Spring 2018 semesters.
Query?

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.53 ©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
▪ Example: Find the set of all courses taught in both the Fall 2017 and the
Spring 2018 semesters.

course_id ( semester=“Fall” Λ year=2017 (section)) 

course_id ( semester=“Spring” Λ year=2018 (section))

• Result?

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.54 ©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
▪ Example: Find the set of all courses taught in both the Fall 2017 and the
Spring 2018 semesters.

course_id ( semester=“Fall” Λ year=2017 (section)) 

course_id ( semester=“Spring” Λ year=2018 (section))

• Result?

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.55 ©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 _________;
• attribute domains of r and s must be _____________;

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.56 ©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

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.57 ©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
▪ Example: to find all courses taught in the Fall 2017 semester, but not in
the Spring 2018 semester

▪ Query?

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.58 ©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
▪ Example: to find all courses taught in the Fall 2017 semester, but not in
the Spring 2018 semester
course_id ( semester=“Fall” Λ year=2017 (section)) −
course_id ( semester=“Spring” Λ year=2018 (section))

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.59 ©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   dept_name=“Physics” (instructor)
Music   dept_name=“Music” (instructor)
What is next?

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.60 ©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   dept_name=“Physics” (instructor)
Music   dept_name=“Music” (instructor)
Physics  Music

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.61 ©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,  , is provided for
that purpose
▪ The expression:
x (E)
returns the result of expression E under the name x

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.62 ©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?

▪ Query 2?

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.63 ©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
 dept_name=“Physics”  salary > 90,000 (instructor)

▪ Query 2?

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.64 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Equivalent Queries
▪ Example: Find information about courses taught by instructors in the
Physics department with salary greater than 90,000
▪ Query 1
 dept_name=“Physics”  salary > 90,000 (instructor)
▪ Query 2
 dept_name=“Physics” ( 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 2.65 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Relational Algebra

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 2.66 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan