MODULE 2: RELATIONAL MODEL

PART 1
SYLLABUS
• Structure of Relational Databases - Integrity
Constraints, Synthesizing ER diagram to
relational schema
• Introduction to Relational Algebra - select,
project, cartesian product operations, join -
Equi-join, natural join. Query examples
• Introduction to Structured Query Language
(SQL), Data Definition Language (DDL), Table
definitions and operations – CREATE, DROP,
ALTER, INSERT, DELETE, UPDATE.
Relational data model
• First introduced by Ted Codd in 1970.
• Represent model represents database as a
collection of relations.
• Relation is a table which has values and rows in
table is a collection of related data values
• Each row represents a real world entity & its
related values.
• Row in relational table is called a tuple, column
header is attribute and table is a relation
 Attributes

Relation name

EMPLOYEE
EMP_NO Name Address Mobile number Age Salary

101 RAM XYZ 9898989898 20 10000

Tuples 102 SAM CVF 9999999999 21 20000

103 SITA FDFD 888888888 22 30000

• In the relational model, all data is logically
structured within relations (also called table)
• Informally a relation may be viewed as a named
two-dimensional table representing an entity
set.
• A relation has a fixed number of named columns
and variable number of rows.
Components of relational database
• The main components of relational database
structure are as follows:
1. Domain
2. Tuples (rows)
3. Attributes (Columns)
4. Keys
5. Relations (Tables)
Domain
• It has three parts
▫ Name
▫ Data type
▫ Format
• A Domain is a set of atomic values.
• Atomic means each value in the domain is
indivisible to the relational model.
• A domain has a logical definition:
e.g.“USA_phone_numbers” are the set of 10
digit phone numbers valid in the U.S.
• A domain may have a data-type or a format
defined for it. The USA_phone_numbers may
have a format: (ddd)-ddd-dddd where each d is a
decimal digit.
• E.g., Dates have various formats such as month
name, date, year or yyyy-mm-dd, or dd mm,yyyy
etc
Tuples (rows)
• A tuple is an ordered set of values
• Tuple is a portion of a table containing data that
described only entity, relationship, or object
• Also known as record
• Each value is derived from an appropriate
domain.
• <Kumar, Singh, 52/57 store, 223001,
9889898989> is a tuple belonging to the
CUSTOMER relation.
Attributes (Columns)
• Columns in a table are also called attributes or
fields of the relation.
• A single cell in a table is called field value,
attribute value or data element.
• For example, for the entity person, attributes
could include eye colour and height.
Key of a Relation
• Each row has a value of a data item (or set of
items) that uniquely identifies that row in the
table
Called the key
• Sometimes row-ids or sequential numbers
are assigned as keys to identify the rows in a
table
Called artificial key or surrogate key
Relations (Tables)
• A table of values
• A relation may be thought of as a set of rows.
• A relation may alternately be thought of as a set
of columns.
• That is a table is perceived as a two-dimensional
structure composed of rows and columns.
• Each row represents a fact that corresponds to a
real-world entity or relationship.
• Each row has a value of an item or set of items
that uniquely identifies that row in the table.
Schema of a Relation
• It is basically an outline of how data is organized
• It is denoted by R (A1, A2, .....An)
▫ Here R is relation name and
▫ it has some attributes A1 to An
• Each attribute have some domain and it is
represented by dom(Ai)
• Relation schema is used to describe a relation
• Each attribute has a domain or a set of valid values.
▫ For example, the domain of PhoneNo is 10 digit
numbers.
Degree of a relation
• Degree of a relation is number of attributes in a
relation
• Eg. STUDENT(Id, Name, Age, Departmentno)
▫ Has degree 4
• Datatype of each the attribute can also be
represented.
• Eg. STUDENT(Id:Integer, Name:String,
Age:integer, Departmentno:integer)
Relation State
• The relation state is a subset of the Cartesian
product of the domains of its attributes
▫ each domain contains the set of all possible values
the attribute can take.

• Example: attribute Cust-name is defined over

the domain of character strings of maximum
length 25
▫ dom(Cust-name) is varchar(25)
• Cartesian product specifies all possible
combination of values from underlying domains

• Let R(A1, A2) be a relation schema:

▫ Let dom(A1) = {0,1}
▫ Let dom(A2) = {a,b,c}
• Then: dom(A1) X dom(A2) is all possible
combinations:
{<0,a> , <0,b> , <0,c>, <1,a>, <1,b>, <1,c> }

• The relation state r(R) ⊂ dom(A1) X dom(A2)

• For example: r(R) could be {<0,a> , <0,b> ,
<1,c> }
Current relation state
• Reflects only the valid tuples that represent a
particular state of real world
• As the state of real world changes, so does the
relation state, by being transformed into another
relation state
Relational Model Notations
• A relation schema of degree n is denoted by:
R(A1, A2, .........., An), where R – name, Ai - Attributes
• The uppercase letters Q, R, S denotes relation name.
• Relation state is denoted as:
r(R) = {t1, t2, …, tn} where each ti is a tuple
r(R) ⊂ dom (A1) X dom (A2) X ....X dom(An)
• A tuple in a relation is denoted by:
ti = <v1, v2, …, vn> where each vj ε dom(Aj)
• The lowercase letters t, u, v denote tuples.
Definition Summary
Informal Terms Formal Terms
Table Relation
Column Header Attribute
All possible Column Domain
Values
Row Tuple
Table Definition Relation Schema
Populated Table Relation State
Characteristics of Relation
1) Ordering of tuples in a relation r(R):
▫ The tuples are not considered to be ordered,
even though they appear to be in the tabular
form.
2) Ordering of attributes in a relation schema R
(and of values within each tuple):
▫ We will consider the attributes in R(A1, A2, ...,
An) and the values in t=<v1, v2, ..., vn> to be
ordered .
3) Values & nulls in a tuple:
▫All values are considered atomic (indivisible).
▫ Each value in a tuple must be from the domain of
the attribute for that column
If tuple t = <v1, v2, …, vn> is a tuple (row) in the
relation state r of R(A1, A2, …, An)
Then each vi must be a value from dom(Ai)

▫ A special null value is used to represent values

that are unknown or inapplicable to certain tuples.
4) Interpretation(Meaning) of a Relation:
▫STUDENT(Name, SSN, home_phone, Age, GPA)
▫ From this schema name, we interpret that this
relation stores data about students.
▫ Similarly, from a tuple <“Smith”, 17, 888888,18,8>,
we can interpret that there is a student whose name
is “Smith”.
Relational Model Constraints
• Constraints are conditions that must hold on all
valid relation states.
• There are three main types of constraints in the
relational model:
▫ Inherent model-based constraints/ Implicit
▫ Schema-based constraints/ Explicit
▫ Application based constraints/ Semantic
Inherent model-based Constraints
• Constraints that are inherent/ inbuilt in the data model.
• Eg: A relation cannot have duplicate tuples.

Application based Constraints

• Cannot be expressed in a schema.
• Defined in application programs.
Schema-based Constraints
• Domain constraint
• Key constraint
• Constraints on NULLs – whether permitted or
not
• Entity Integrity constrains
• Referential Integrity constraints
Key Constraints
• Primary key
• Candidate key
• Secondary/ Alternate key
• Composite key
• Foreign key
• Super key
• Example: Consider a STUDENT relation
schema:
▫ STUDENT(Ssn, Name, Age, URegNo, DeptId)
▫Candidate key – {Ssn, URegNo}
▫Primary key – Ssn
▫Secondary key – URegNo
▫Composite key – {State, No}
▫Foreign key – DeptId
▫Super key – {Ssn, Name, Age}
• In general:
▫ Any key is a superkey (but not vice versa)
▫ Any set of attributes that includes a key is a
superkey
▫ A minimal superkey is also a key
Entity-Integrity Constraints
• States that no primary key value can be NULL.
• Primary key should be unique.

Referential-Integrity Constraints
• It is specified between 2 relations.
• States that foreign key must contain a null
value or a valid primary key value.
Displaying a relational database
schema and its constraints
• Each relation schema can be displayed as a row of
attribute names.
• The name of the relation is written above the attribute
names.
• The primary key attribute (or attributes) will be
underlined.
• A foreign key (referential integrity) constraint is
displayed as a directed arrow from the foreign key
attribute to the primary key attribute of referenced table.
Synthesizing ER diagram to
relational schema
• Step 1: Mapping of regular entity types.
• Step 2: Mapping of weak entity types
• Step 3: Mapping of binary 1:1 relationship type
• Step 4: Mapping of binary 1:N relationship type
• Step 5: Mapping of binary M:N relationship type
• Step 6: Mapping of multivalued attributes
• Step 7: Mapping of N-ary relationship types
Step 1: Mapping of regular entity types

• For every regular entity type (E), create a relation (R)

that includes all simple attributes of E.
• Include only the simple component attributes of a
composite attribute.
• Choose one of the key attributes of E as the primary key
for R.
Step 2: Mapping of weak entity types

• For each weak entity type (W), with owner type (E),
create a relation (R) and include all simple attributes of
W.
• In addition, include the primary key of E as the foreign
key of R.
• Primary key of R = Primary key of E + partial key of W.
Step 3: Mapping of binary 1:1 relationship
type
• 3 approaches:
1) Foreign key approach
2) Merged relation approach
3) Cross-reference approach

• Foreign key approach

• Let the 2 relations be S & T.
• Choose one of the relation, say S, & include the primary
key of T as foreign key in S. (Its better to choose an entity
type with total participation as S.)
• Include all the simple attributes of 1:1 relationship type as
attributes of S.
Step 4: Mapping of binary 1:N relationship
type

• Let the 2 relations be S & T.

• Let S be the entity type at the ‘N’ side.
• Add the primary key of T as foreign key in S.
Step 5: Mapping of binary M:N relationship
type

• For every binary M:N relationship type, create a new relation

S.
• Include the primary key of both the relations as foreign keys
in S (Same will be the primary keys of S).
• Also include simple attributes of M:N relationship type as
attributes of S.
Step 6: Mapping of multivalued attributes

• For each multivalued attribute (A) in S, create a new

relation R with that attribute.
• Also include the primary key (K) of S.
• Primary key of R will be the combination of A & K.
Step 7: Mapping of N-ary relationship type

• For each N-ary relationship type, create a new relation S.

• Include all the primary keys as foreign key in S.
• Also include simple attributes of the relationship type as
attributes of S.
Tutorial

NB: If cardinality not given, assume it as M:N

Tutorial Answer
PART 1 ENDS