The Relational Model

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Objectives

Terminology of relational model.

How tables are used to represent data.
Connection between mathematical relations
and relations in the relational model.
Properties of database relations.
How to identify CK, PK, and FKs.
Meaning of entity integrity and referential
integrity.
Purpose and advantages of views.

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Relational Model Terminology
A relation is a table with columns and rows.
– Only applies to logical structure of the
database, not the physical structure.

Attribute is a named column of a relation.

Domain is the set of allowable values for one

or more attributes.

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Relational Model Terminology
Tuple is a row of a relation.

Degree is the number of attributes in a relation.

Cardinality is the number of tuples in a relation.

Relational Database is a collection of normalized

relations with distinct relation names.

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Instances of Branch and Staff Relations

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Examples of Attribute Domains

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Alternative Terminology for Relational
Model

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Mathematical Definition of Relation
Consider two sets, D1 & D2, where D1 = {2, 4} and
D2 = {1, 3, 5}.
Cartesian product, D1  D2, is set of all ordered
pairs, where first element is member of D1 and
second element is member of D2.
D1  D2 = {(2, 1), (2, 3), (2, 5), (4, 1), (4, 3), (4, 5)}

Alternative way is to find all combinations of

elements with first from D1 and second from D2.

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Mathematical Definition of Relation

Any subset of Cartesian product is a relation; e.g.

R = {(2, 1), (4, 1)}
May specify which pairs are in relation using
some condition for selection; e.g.
– second element is 1:
R = {(x, y) | x D1, y D2, and y = 1}
– first element is always twice the second:
S = {(x, y) | x D1, y D2, and x = 2y}

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Mathematical Definition of Relation
Consider three sets D1, D2, D3 with
Cartesian Product D1  D2  D3; e.g.

D1 = {1, 3} D2 = {2, 4} D3 = {5, 6}

D1  D2  D3 = {(1,2,5), (1,2,6), (1,4,5),
(1,4,6), (3,2,5), (3,2,6), (3,4,5), (3,4,6)}

Any subset of these ordered triples is a

relation.
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Mathematical Definition of Relation

Cartesian product of n sets (D1, D2, . . ., Dn)

is:

D1  D2  . . .  Dn = {(d1, d2, . . . , dn) | d1 D1, d2

D2, . . . , dnDn}
usually written as:
n
XDi
i=1

Any set of n-tuples from this Cartesian

product is a relation on the n sets.
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Database Relations

Relation schema
– Named relation defined by a set of
attribute and domain name pairs.

Relational database schema

– Set of relation schemas, each with a
distinct name.

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Properties of Relations

Relation name is distinct from all other relation

names in relational schema.

Each cell of relation contains exactly one atomic

(single) value.

Each attribute has a distinct name.

Values of an attribute are all from the same

domain.

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Properties of Relations

Each tuple is distinct; there are no

duplicate tuples.

Order of attributes has no significance.

Order of tuples has no significance,

theoretically.

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Relational Keys

Superkey
– An attribute, or set of attributes, that uniquely
identifies a tuple within a relation.

Candidate Key
– Superkey (K) such that no proper subset is a
superkey within the relation.
– In each tuple of R, values of K uniquely
identify that tuple (uniqueness).
– No proper subset of K has the uniqueness
property (irreducibility).
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Relational Keys

Primary Key
– Candidate key selected to identify tuples
uniquely within relation.

Alternate Keys
– Candidate keys that are not selected to be
primary key.

Foreign Key
– Attribute, or set of attributes, within one
relation that matches candidate key of some
(possibly same) relation.
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Integrity Constraints

Null
– Represents value for an attribute that is
currently unknown or not applicable for
tuple.
– Deals with incomplete or exceptional
data.
– Represents the absence of a value and is
not the same as zero or spaces, which are
values.
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Integrity Constraints

Entity Integrity
– In a base relation, no attribute of a primary
key can be null.

Referential Integrity
– If foreign key exists in a relation, either
foreign key value must match a candidate
key value of some tuple in its home relation
or foreign key value must be wholly null.

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Integrity Constraints

General Constraints
– Additional rules specified by users or
database administrators that define or
constrain some aspect of the
enterprise.

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Views

Base Relation
– Named relation corresponding to an entity
in conceptual schema, whose tuples are
physically stored in database.

View
– Dynamic result of one or more relational
operations operating on base relations to
produce another relation.

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Views
A virtual relation that does not necessarily
actually exist in the database but is produced
upon request, at time of request.

Contents of a view are defined as a query on one

or more base relations.

Views are dynamic, meaning that changes made

to base relations that affect view attributes are
immediately reflected in the view.

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Purpose of Views

Provides powerful and flexible security

mechanism by hiding parts of database from
certain users.

Permits users to access data in a customized

way, so that same data can be seen by different
users in different ways, at same time.

Can simplify complex operations on base

relations.
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Updating Views

All updates to a base relation should be

immediately reflected in all views that
reference that base relation.

If view is updated, underlying base

relation should reflect change.

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Updating Views

There are restrictions on types of modifications

that can be made through views:
– Updates are allowed if query involves a single
base relation and contains a candidate key of
base relation.
– Updates are not allowed involving multiple base
relations.
– Updates are not allowed involving aggregation
or grouping operations.

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Updating Views

Classes of views are defined as:

– theoretically not updateable;
– theoretically updateable;
– partially updateable.

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