Relational Model concept

Relational model can represent as a table with columns and rows. Each row is known as a tuple.
Each table of the column has a name or attribute.

Domain: It contains a set of atomic values that an attribute can take.

Attribute: It contains the name of a column in a particular table. Each attribute Ai must have a
domain, dom(Ai)

Relational instance: In the relational database system, the relational instance is represented
by a finite set of tuples. Relation instances do not have duplicate tuples.

Relational schema: A relational schema contains the name of the relation and name of all
columns or attributes.

Relational key: In the relational key, each row has one or more attributes. It can identify the
row in the relation uniquely.

Example: STUDENT Relation

NAME ROLL_NO PHONE_NO ADDRESS AGE

Ram 14795 7305758992 Noida 24

Shyam 12839 9026288936 Delhi 35

Laxman 33289 8583287182 Gurugram 20

Mahesh 27857 7086819134 Ghaziabad 27

Ganesh 17282 9028 9i3988 Delhi 40

o In the given table, NAME, ROLL_NO, PHONE_NO, ADDRESS, and AGE are the attributes.
o The instance of schema STUDENT has 5 tuples.
o t3 = <Laxman, 33289, 8583287182, Gurugram, 20>

Properties of Relations
o Name of the relation is distinct from all other relations.
o Each relation cell contains exactly one atomic (single) value
o Each attribute contains a distinct name
o Attribute domain has no significance
o tuple has no duplicate value
o Order of tuple can have a different sequence
Relational Algebra
Relational algebra is a procedural query language. It gives a step-by-step process to obtain the
result of the query. It uses operators to perform queries.

Types of Relational operation

1.

Select Operation:
o The select operation selects tuples that satisfy a given predicate.
o It is denoted by sigma (σ).

1. Notation: σ p(r)

Where:

σ is used for selection prediction

r is used for relation
p is used as a propositional logic formula which may use connectors like: AND OR and NOT.
These relational can use as relational operators like =, ≠, ≥, <, >, ≤.

For example: LOAN Relation

BRANCH_NAME LOAN_NO AMOUNT

Downtown L-17 1000

Redwood L-23 2000

Perryride L-15 1500

Downtown L-14 1500

Mianus L-13 500

Roundhill L-11 900

Perryride L-16 1300

Input:

1. σ BRANCH_NAME="perryride" (LOAN)

Output:

BRANCH_NAME LOAN_NO AMOUNT

Perryride L-15 1500

Perryride L-16 1300

2. Project Operation:
o This operation shows the list of those attributes that we wish to appear in the result. Rest of the
attributes are eliminated from the table.
o It is denoted by ∏.

1. Notation: ∏ A1, A2, An (r)

Where, A1, A2, A3 is used as an attribute name of relation r.

Example: CUSTOMER RELATION

NAME STREET CITY

Jones Main Harrison

Smith North Rye

Hays Main Harrison

Curry North Rye

Johnson Alma Brooklyn

Brooks Senator Brooklyn

Input:

1. ∏ NAME, CITY (CUSTOMER)

Output:

NAME CITY
 Jones Harrison

Smith Rye

Hays Harrison

Curry Rye

Johnson Brooklyn

Brooks Brooklyn

3. Union Operation:
o Suppose there are two tuples R and S. The union operation contains all the tuples that are either
in R or S or both in R & S.
o It eliminates the duplicate tuples. It is denoted by ∪.

1. Notation: R ∪ S

A union operation must hold the following condition:

o R and S must have the attribute of the same number.
o Duplicate tuples are eliminated automatically.

Example:
DEPOSITOR RELATION

CUSTOMER_NAME ACCOUNT_NO

Johnson A-101

Smith A-121

Mayes A-321

Turner A-176

Johnson A-273

Jones A-472

Lindsay A-284

BORROW RELATION
 CUSTOMER_NAME LOAN_NO

Jones L-17

Smith L-23

Hayes L-15

Jackson L-14

Curry L-93

Smith L-11

Williams L-17

Input:

1. ∏ CUSTOMER_NAME (BORROW) ∪ ∏ CUSTOMER_NAME (DEPOSITOR)

Output:

CUSTOMER_NAME

Johnson

Smith

Hayes

Turner

Jones

Lindsay

Jackson

Curry

Williams

Mayes

4. Set Intersection:
o Suppose there are two tuples R and S. The set intersection operation contains all tuples that are
in both R & S.
 o It is denoted by intersection ∩.

1. Notation: R ∩ S

Example: Using the above DEPOSITOR table and BORROW table

Input:

1. ∏ CUSTOMER_NAME (BORROW) ∩ ∏ CUSTOMER_NAME (DEPOSITOR)

Output:

CUSTOMER_NAME

Smith

Jones

5. Set Difference:
o Suppose there are two tuples R and S. The set intersection operation contains all tuples that are
in R but not in S.
o It is denoted by intersection minus (-).

1. Notation: R - S

Example: Using the above DEPOSITOR table and BORROW table

Input:

1. ∏ CUSTOMER_NAME (BORROW) - ∏ CUSTOMER_NAME (DEPOSITOR)

Output:

CUSTOMER_NAME

Jackson

Hayes

Willians

Curry
6. Cartesian product
o The Cartesian product is used to combine each row in one table with each row in the other table.
It is also known as a cross product.
o It is denoted by X.

1. Notation: E X D
Example:
EMPLOYEE

EMP_ID EMP_NAME EMP_DEPT

1 Smith A

2 Harry C

3 John B

DEPARTMENT

DEPT_NO DEPT_NAME

A Marketing

B Sales

C Legal

Input:

1. EMPLOYEE X DEPARTMENT

Output:

EMP_ID EMP_NAME EMP_DEPT DEPT_NO DEPT_NAME

1 Smith A A Marketing

1 Smith A B Sales

1 Smith A C Legal

2 Harry C A Marketing
 2 Harry C B Sales

2 Harry C C Legal

3 John B A Marketing

3 John B B Sales

3 John B C Legal

7. Rename Operation:
The rename operation is used to rename the output relation. It is denoted by rho (ρ).

Example: We can use the rename operator to rename STUDENT relation to STUDENT1.

1. ρ(STUDENT1, STUDENT)

Note: Apart from these common operations Relational algebra can be used in Join
operations.