Chapter Two

The Relational Model

 Chapter 2 - Objectives
Terminology of relational model.
How tables are used to represent data.
Properties of database relations.
How to identify CK, PK, and FKs (key
Constraints).
Meaning of entity integrity and referential
integrity.
Purpose and advantages of views.
Building Blocks of Relational Data Model
Database Schemas, Instances and Database States

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Relational Model Terminology
Relation is a table with columns and rows.
Only applies to logical structure of the
database, not the physical structure.
Relationship: is the association between
records
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. ( a record )

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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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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Relational Databases
Relational Database: a collection of normalized
relations with distinct relation names.
Relation Schema: a uniquely named relation defined by a
set of attribute-domain name pair
Let A1, A2...........An be attributes with domain D1, D2 ………,Dn.
Then the sets {A1:D1, A2:D2… An:Dn} is a Relation Schema. A
relation R, defined by a relation schema S, is a set of
mappings from attribute names to their corresponding
domains. Thus a relation is a set of n- tuples of the form
(A1:d1, A2:d2 ,…, An:dn) where d1 є D1, d2 є D2,…….. dn є Dn,

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Relational Databases
Relational Database schema: a set of relation
schema each with distinct names.
Suppose R1, R2,……, Rn is the set of relation schema in a
relational database then the relational database
schema (R) can be stated as
R={ R1 , R2 ,……., Rn}

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Relational Schema –Convention
The common convention for representing a relation
schema is to give the name of the relation followed by
the attribute names in parentheses. Normally, the
primary key is underlined.
The conceptual model, or conceptual schema, is the
set of all such schemas for the database.

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Relational DB Schema- an Example
Branch (branchNo, street, city, postcode)
Staff (staffNo, fName, lName, position, sex, DOB, salary,
branchNo)
PropertyForRent (propertyNo, street, city, postcode,
type, rooms, rent, ownerNo, staffNo,branchNo)
Client (clientNo, fName, lName, telNo, prefType,
maxRent)
PrivateOwner (ownerNo, fName, lName, address, telNo)
Viewing (clientNo, propertyNo, viewDate, comment)
Registration (clientNo, branchNo, staffNo, dateJoined)
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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.
However, in practice, the order may affect the efficiency
of accessing tuples.

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 Relational Keys
Super key
An attribute, or set of attributes, that uniquely identifies a
tuple within a relation.

Candidate Key
Super key (K) such that no proper subset is a super key
within the relation.
Must ensure two properties to be a candidate key
 In each tuple of R, values of K uniquely identify that tuple
(uniqueness).
 No proper subset of K has the uniqueness property (irreducibility).

Composite Candidate key- CK. that has more than one

attribute

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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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 Relational Keys- example
Consider Employee and
Department Entities

EID SSNO Fname Lname DOB Salary DID

DID DeptName Location ChairPersonID

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 Integrity Constraints
Domain Integrity:
Defines the Constraints on the type, length, format
or range of values a field( an attribute) can have
Entity Integrity
In a base relation, no attribute of a primary key can
be null.
And No Primary key value should be duplicate
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 (Enterprise Constraints)
Additional rules specified by users or database
administrators that define or constrain some
aspect of the enterprise.
Example: No Clerk should manage more than
100 Properties at a time.
Nulls (Nullity)
Null Represents a value for an attribute that is
currently unknown or is not applicable for this
tuple.

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Relations – Two Types
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, using some DML( eg SQL).

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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 Building blocks of the relational data
model
Entities: real world physical or logical object
Attributes: properties used to describe each Entity or
real world object-pertinent to the business
applications.
Relationship: the association between Entities
Constraints: rules that should be obeyed while
manipulating the data.

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 Entities
ENTITIES (persons, places, events, things etc.) which
the organization has to deal with. Relations can also
describe relationships
AKA-Entity Types
Existence Dependency: the dependence of an entity
on the existence of one or more entities.
Weak entity: an entity that can not exist without the
entity with which it has a relationship
Strong Entity: Can exist without   any relationship
instance
Entity Instance: specific Occurrence of an entity type
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 Attributes
Piece of information which characterize and describe
entities.
Attributes are pieces of information ABOUT entities.
The analysis must of course identify those which are
actually relevant to the proposed application. Attributes
will give rise to recorded items of data in the database
Attribute name (be explanatory words or phrases)
The domain from which attribute values are taken (A
DOMAIN is a set of values from which attribute values
may be taken.)

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 Attributes Cont’d…
entity identifier (attributes which just describe an
entity and those which help to identify it uniquely)
permanent or time-varying (which attributes may
change their values over time)
required or optional

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 Types of Attributes
Simple (atomic) Vs Composite attributes
Simple : contains a single value (not divided into sub parts)
E.g. Age, gender
Composite: Divided into sub parts (composed of other attributes)
E.g. Name, address
Single-valued Vs multi-valued attributes
Single-valued : have only single value(the value may change but
has only one value at one time)
E.g. Name, Sex, Id. No. color_of_eyes
Multi-Valued: have more than one value
E.g. Address, dependent-name
Person may have several college degrees 

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 Types of Attributes
Stored vs. Derived Attribute
Stored : not possible to derive or compute
 E.g. Name, Address

Derived: The value may be derived (computed) from the values

of other attributes.
 E.g. Age (current year – year of birth)
Null Values
NULL applies to attributes which are not applicable or which do
not have values or not available now.
Value of a key attribute can not be null.
Default value - assumed value if no explicit value from the
user
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 Entity versus Attributes
When designing the conceptual specification of the
database, one should pay attention to the distinction
between an Entity and an Attribute.
Should address be an attribute of Employees or an
entity (connected to Employees by a relationship)?
 If we have several addresses per employee, address must be an entity
(attributes cannot be set-valued/multi valued)
If the structure (city, Woreda, Kebele, etc) is
important, e.g. want to retrieve employees in a given
city, address must be modeled as an entity (attribute
values are atomic)

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 Relationships
In any business processing one object may be associated
with another object due to some event.
Such kind of association is what we call a RELATIONSHIP
between entity objects.
Related entities require setting of LINKS from one part of
the database to another.
A relationship should be named by a word (verb)or verb
phrase which explains its function
Role names are different from the names of entities
forming the relationship: one entity may take on many
roles, the same role may be played by different entities
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 Relationships Cont’d…
Relationship Type (Relationship)
Relationship between entity types

Relationship Occurrence/Instance:
Relationship between entity occurrences/Instances

For each RELATIONSHIP, one can talk about the Number

of Entities and the Number of Tuples participating in the
association. These two concepts are called DEGREE and
CARDINALITY of a relationship respectively.

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 Degree of a Relationship
The number of entities participating in a relationship Type is
called the DEGREE of the relationship.
Among the Degrees of relationship, the following are the basic:
UNARY/RECURSIVE RELATIONSHIP: Tuples/records of a Single
entity are related with each other.
BINARY RELATIONSHIPS: Tuples/records of two entities are
associated in a relationship
TERNARY RELATIONSHIP: Tuples/records of three different entities
are associated
And a generalized one:
 N-ARY RELATIONSHIP: Tuples from arbitrary number of entity sets are
participating in a relationship.

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 Cardinality of a Relationship
Cardinality: maximum number of possible relationship occurrences for
an entity participating in a given relationship type.
The major cardinalities of a relationship are:
ONE-TO-ONE: one tuple is associated with only one other tuple.
 E.g. Building – Location as a single building will be located in a single location and as a
single location will only accommodate a single Building.
ONE-TO-MANY, one tuple can be associated with many other tuples, but not the
reverse.
 E.g. Department-Student as one department can have multiple students.
MANY-TO-ONE, many tuples are associated with one tuple but not the reverse.
 E.g. Employee – Department: as many employees belong to a single department.

MANY-TO-MANY: one tuple is associated with many other tuples and from the
other side, with a different role name one tuple will be associated with many tuples
 E.g. Student – Courseas a student can take many courses and a single course can be
attended by many students.

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 Constraints
Constraints -rules that should be obeyed while
manipulating the data.
Different Types of Constraints exist
Key (PK and FK, UK)Constraints
Domain Integrity Constraints ( type, Range,
Format, length of values)
General Constraints (Different Operating/Business
Rules)
 usually implemented by database objects such as
Triggers/Assertion in DBMSs

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Schemas, Instances and Database
State
Database Schema- is the structural Definition of a
Database
AKA-Database Intension
Database Instance- is the collection of data in the database
at a particular point of time (snap-shot).
AKA – Database Extension, Database State
 Valid state: the state that satisfies the structure and business
constraints specified in the schema and is enforced by DBMS
Database sate changes every time we issue a DML while
database Schema changes rarely- maintenance time
( via DDL)
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 Database Schema at three different
Levels(ANSI-SPARC)
External Schema
Many External Schemas per database
Conceptual Schema
One and Only One conceptual schema per
Database
Internal Schema
One and Only One Internal Schema per
Database

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Exercise
Consider the following relational schema
Hotel (hotelNo, hotelName, city)
Room (roomNo, hotelNo, type, price)
Booking (hotelNo, guestNo, dateFrom, dateTo, roomNo)
Guest (guestNo, guestName, guestAddress)
Answer the following questions based on the Schema
above
Identify the Primary key/Foreign keys in each table
Produce some sample tables for these relations that
observe the relational integrity rules.

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