Chapter 2: Introduction to Relational

Model

Database System Concepts, 6th Ed.

©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
See www.db-book.com for conditions on re-use
 Example of a Relation

attributes
(or columns)

tuples
(or rows)

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 2.2 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Attribute Types

 The set of allowed values for each attribute is

called the domain of the attribute.
 Attribute values are (normally) required to be
atomic; that is, indivisible.
 The special value null is a member of every
domain.
 The null value causes complications in the
definition of many operations.

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 2.3 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Relation Schema and Instance
 A1, A2, …, An are attributes
 R = (A1, A2, …, An ) is a relation schema
Example: instructor = (ID, name, dept_name, salary)
 Formally, given domains D1, D2, …, Dn, a relation r is a subset of
D1 x D2 x … x Dn
Thus, a relation is a set of n-tuples (a1, a2, …, an) where each ai Di

 The current values (relation instance) of a relation are

specified by a table
 An element t of r is a tuple, represented by a row in a table

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 2.4 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Relations are Unordered

 Order of tuples is irrelevant (tuples may be stored in an arbitrary order)

 Example: instructor relation with unordered tuples

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 2.5 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Relations are Unordered

 Why is the order of tuples irrelevant?

 An unordered collection of elements is a set:
{1, 2, 3} = {2, 1, 3}.
 An ordered collection of elements is a list:
(1, 2, 3)  (2, 1, 3).
 A set is used to express (expressiveness).
 We care you are a student, but we don’t
care when you register (the order).
 A list is used to process (efficiency).
 Binary Search (we will discuss it later).

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 2.6 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Keys
 We need a way to specify how tuples within a relation are
distinguished, in order to access a unique tuple, since tuples are
unordered.
 Let K  R
 K is a superkey of R if values for K are sufficient to identify a
unique tuple of each possible relation r(R)
 Example: {ID} and {ID,name} are both superkeys of instructor.
 Superkey K is a candidate key if K is minimal
Example: {ID} is a candidate key for Instructor
 One of the candidate keys is selected to be the primary key.
 Foreign key constraint: Value in one relation must appear in
another
 Referencing relation
 Referenced relation

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 2.7 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Keys A1 A2 A3 A4
1 a alpha x
2 a beta x
 Let K  R.
2 b gamma y
For example {A1, A2}  {A1, A2, A3, A4}.
3 c delta z
 We use the example to discuss what
the keys are for the relation.
 Superkeys
 {A1, A2} and anything including {A1, A2}.
 {A3} and anything including {A3}
 …
 Candidate keys: {A1, A2}, {A3}, …
 One of many candidate keys can be chosen as a primary key.
 We define the key first, and do not allow data to be inserted
if it violates the key definition!!!

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 2.8 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Schema Diagram for University Database

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 2.9 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Some Relational Operators

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 2.10 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Selection of tuples

 Relation r

 Select tuples with

A=B and D > 5
 σA=B and D > 5(r)

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 2.11 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Selection of Columns (Attributes)

 Relation r :

 Select A and C
 Projection
 ΠA,C(r)

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 2.12 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Joining two relations – Cartesian Product

 Relations r, s:

 r x s:

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 2.13 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Union of two relations
 Relations r, s:

 r  s:

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 2.14 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Set difference of two relations

 Relations r, s:

 r – s:

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 2.15 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Set Intersection of two relations

 Relation r, s:

 rs

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 2.16 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Joining two relations – Natural Join

 Let r and s be relations on schemas R and S

respectively. Then, the “natural join” of relations R
and S is a relation on schema R  S obtained as
follows:
 Consider every pair of tuples tr from r and ts from s.
 If tr and ts have the same value on each of the
attributes in R  S, add a tuple t to the result,
where
t has the same value as tr on r
t has the same value as ts on s

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 2.17 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Natural Join Example

 Relations r, s:
tr ts

 Natural Join
t
 r s

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 2.18 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan