Relational Algebra

Example of a Relation

attributes
(or columns)

tuples
(or rows)
 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
 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 sets 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 Ɛ 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
 Relations are Unordered
• Order of tuples is irrelevant (tuples may be stored in an
arbitrary order)
• Example: instructor relation with unordered tuples
 Database
• A database consists of multiple relations
• Information about an enterprise is broken up into parts

• instructor
student
advisor
• Bad design:
univ (instructor -ID, name, dept_name, salary, student_Id, ..)
results in
• Repetition of information (e.g., two students have the same
instructor)
• The need for null values (e.g., represent an student with no
advisor)
Schema Diagram for University Database
 Relational Query Languages
• Two mathematical Query Languages form the basis for “real”
languages (e.g. SQL), and for implementation:
• Relational Algebra: More operational (Procedural), very useful
for representing execution plans.
• Relational Calculus: Lets users describe what they want, rather
than how to compute it. (Non-operational, declarative.)
• Tuple relational calculus
• Domain relational calculus

Understanding Algebra & Calculus is key to understanding SQL,

query processing!
 Relational Algebra

Basic operations:
Selection ( ) Selects a subset of rows from relation.
Projection (  ) Deletes unwanted columns from relation.
Cross-product (  ) Allows us to combine two relations.
Set-difference (  ) Tuples in reln. 1, but not in reln. 2.
Union (  ) Tuples in reln. 1 and in reln. 2.
Rename (ρ)
Additional operations: Intersection, join, division
 Selection
• Selects rows that satisfy selection condition.
• No duplicates in result!
• Schema of result is identical to schema of (only) input
relation.
• Result relation can be the input for another relational algebra
operation! (Operator composition.)
S2
sid sname rating age
28 yuppy 9 35.0
31
44
lubber
guppy
8
5
55.5
35.0
 rating 8(S2)
58 rusty 10 35.0
sid sname rating age SQL:
Select * from S2 where rating > 8
O/P
28 yuppy 9 35.0
58 rusty 10 35.0
 Selection of tuples

Relation r

Select tuples with A=B and D > 5

σ A=B and D > 5 (r)

SQL:
Select * from r where A=B and D > 5
 Projection
• Deletes attributes that are not in projection list.
• Projection operator has to eliminate duplicates!

sname rating
yuppy 9
 sname,rating(S2)
lubber 8
guppy 5 SQL:
rusty 10 Select sname, rating from S2

age
35.0
55.5
SQL:
Select age from S2
 age(S2)
 Selection of Columns (Attributes)

• Relation r:

• Select A and C
• Projection
• Π A, C (r)
 Union, Intersection, Set-Difference
Example Instances

R1 sid bid day S1 sid sname rating age

22 101 10/10/96 22 dustin 7 45.0
58 103 11/12/96 31 lubber 8 55.5
58 rusty 10 35.0
S2 sid sname rating age
28 yuppy 9 35.0
31 lubber 8 55.5
44 guppy 5 35.0
58 rusty 10 35.0
 Union, Intersection, Set-Difference

All of these operations take sid sname rating age

two input relations, which
22 dustin 7 45.0
must be union-compatible:
31 lubber 8 55.5
Same number of fields.
`Corresponding’ fields have the
58 rusty 10 35.0
same type.(Same Domain) 44 guppy 5 35.0
What is the schema of result? 28 yuppy 9 35.0
S1 S2

sid sname rating age

sid sname rating age 31 lubber 8 55.5
22 dustin 7 45.0 58 rusty 10 35.0
S1 S2 S1 S2
 Union of two relations
Relations r, s:

r  s: r s

r – s:
Joining two relations – Cartesian Product
 Relations r, s:

 r x s:
 Cross-Product
Each row of S1 is paired with each row of R1.
Result schema has one field per field of S1 and R1, with field names
`inherited’ if possible.
Conflict: Both S1 and R1 have a field called sid.
(sid) sname rating age (sid) bid day
22 dustin 7 45.0 22 101 10/10/96
22 dustin 7 45.0 58 103 11/12/96
31 lubber 8 55.5 22 101 10/10/96
31 lubber 8 55.5 58 103 11/12/96
58 rusty 10 35.0 22 101 10/10/96
58 rusty 10 35.0 58 103 11/12/96

 Solution is Renaming operator:  (C(1 sid1, 5 sid2), S1 R1)

 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 each 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
 Natural Join Example
Example Of Natural Join In SQL

Consider the following student and fee tables with common column names and data types;

Fees

The SQL query for a natural join:

SELECT s.Name, s.Contact, f.Amount, f.Paid FROM Student s NATURAL JOIN Fee f;

Output:

Name Contact Amount Paid

John 1234567890 5000 Yes

Sam 0987654321 4000 No

 Natural Join Example
 Relations r, s:

 Natural Join
 r s
(( Re serves)  CSailors
S = C )(R  S)
bid 103
Condition Join: R

(sid) sname rating age (sid) bid day

22 dustin 7 45.0 58 103 11/12/96
31 lubber 8 55.5 58 103 11/12/96

S1 S1.sid < R1.sid R1

Result schema same as that of cross-product.
Fewer tuples than cross-product, might be able to compute more
efficiently. Sometimes called a theta-join.
 Equi-Join: A special case of condition join where the condition c
contains only equalities and ^.
sid sname rating age bid day
22 dustin 7 45.0 101 10/10/96
58 rusty 10 35.0 103 11/12/96

S1)  sid
Re serves Sailors
R1 )
103
Result schema similar to cross-product, but only one copy of fields
for which equality is specified.
Natural Join: Equijoin on all common fields.
 Division
• The division operator is used for queries which involve the 'all'.
• R1 ÷ R2 = tuples of R1 associated with all tuples of R2.

Example
Retrieve the name of the
subject that is taught in all
courses.
 Division
Division operator A÷B or A/B can be applied if and only if:

• Attributes of B is proper subset of Attributes of A.

• The relation returned by division operator will have attributes = (All

attributes of A – All Attributes of B)

• The relation returned by division operator will return those tuples from
relation A which are associated to every B’s tuple.

• Division can be expressed in terms of Cross Product , Set

Difference and Projection.
Figure in-2.1
Relational Calculus
Non-Procedural
 Relational Calculus

Tuple relational calculus (TRC) and

Domain relational calculus (DRC).
Calculus has variables, constants, comparison ops, logical connectives,
and quantifiers.
TRC: Variables range over (i.e., get bound to) tuples.
DRC: Variables range over domain elements (= field values).
Both TRC and DRC are simple subsets of first-order logic.
Expressions in the calculus are called formulas.
An answer tuple is essentially an assignment of constants to variables
that make the formula evaluate to true.
 Tuple Relational Calculus

 Query has the form: { T | p(T)}

 Answer includes all tuples T that make the formula p(T)
be true.
 Formula is recursively defined, starting with
 simple atomic formulas (getting tuples from
 relations or making comparisons of values),
 and building bigger and better formulas using
 the logical connectives.
 TRC Formulas

Atomic formula:
R  Rel, or R.a op S.b, or R.a op constant op is one of ,, ,,, 
Formula:

an atomic formula, or
 p, p  q, p q , where p and q are formulas, or
X ( p( X)) , where variable X is free in p(X), or
 X ( p( X)) , where variable X is free in p(X)
 Free and Bound Variables

The use of quantifiers X and X in a formula is said to bind X.

A variable that is not bound is free.
Let us revisit the definition of a query: {T|p(T)}

• There is an important restriction:

• the variable T that appears to the left of `|’ must
be the only free variable in the formula p(...).
 Find all sailors with a rating above 7

{S | S  Sailors ^ S.rating > 7}

Query is evaluated on an instance of Sailors
Tuple variable S is instantiated to each tuple of this instance in turn, and the
condition “S.rating > 7” is applied to each such tuple.
Answer contains all instances of S (which are tuples of Sailors) satisfying
the condition.
 Find sailors rated > 7 who’ve reserved
boat #103

{S | (S  Sailors) ^ (S.rating > 7) ^ ( R  Reserves (R.sid = S.sid ^ R.bid = 103))}

Note the use of  to find a tuple in Reserves that `joins with’ the
Sailors tuple under consideration.
R is bound, S is not
 Domain Relational Calculus
• Domain Relational Calculus is a non-procedural query language
equivalent to Tuple Relational Calculus.
• Domain Relational Calculus provides only the description of the query
but,
• it does not provide the methods to solve it.
• In Domain Relational Calculus, a query is expressed as,
• { < x , x , x , ..., x > | P (x , x , x , ..., x ) }
1 2 3 n 1 2 3 n

• where, < x , x , x , …, x > represents resulting domains variables and P (x ,

1 2 3 n 1

x , x , …, x )
2 3 n

• represents the condition or formula equivalent to the Predicate calculus.

Query-1: Find the loan number, branch, amount of loans of greater than or equal to
100 amount.
{≺l, b, a≻ | ≺l, b, a≻ ∈ loan ∧ (a ≥ 100)}
 Unsafe Queries, Expressive Power

It is possible to write syntactically correct calculus queries that

have an infinite number of answers! Such queries are called
unsafe.
S |  S  Sailors
  
   
e.g.,    
   
 

It is known that every query that can be expressed in relational

algebra can be expressed as a safe query in DRC / TRC; the
converse is also true.
Relational Completeness: Query language (e.g., SQL) can express
every query that is expressible in relational algebra/calculus.
 Keys in DBMS
Each row has a value of a data item (or set of items) that
uniquely identifies that row in the table called the key

https://www.javatpoint.com/dbms-keys
https://www.gatevidyalay.com/keys-in-dbms/
Keys in DBMS
 Super Key
A super key is a set of attributes that can identify each tuple uniquely
in the given relation.
Superkey of R:
• Is a set of attributes SK of R with the following condition:
• No two tuples in any valid relation state r(R) will have the
same value for SK
• That is, for any distinct tuples t1 and t2 in r(R), t1[SK]  t2[SK]
Example-
Consider the following Student schema-
Student ( roll , name , gender , age , address , class , section )
Given below are the examples of super keys since each set can
uniquely identify each student in the Student table-
• ( roll , name , gender , age , address , class , section )
• ( class , section , roll ) and (class , section , roll , gender) etc
 Candidate Key
Candidate Keys of R:
• Are minimal set of Super key

Primary Key, Alternate Key

Primary Key of R:
• Is a candidate key chosen by database administrator as a primary
key
• Example: Pan No. Primary Key
• Voter Id, Passport No are Alternate Keys
 Composite Key
• Composite key is a combination of more than one attributes that
can be used to uniquely identity each record.
• It is also known as “Compound” key.
• A composite key may be a candidate or primary key.

Example:
Composite Key in college_Info table.
{ Branch_Name, Branch_Location}
Composite Key in Student_Information table:
{ Student_Id, Student_Name }
 Foreign Key
• Foreign key is used to generate the relationship between the tables.
• Foreign Key is a field in database table that is Primary key in
another table.
• The purpose of Foreign keys is to maintain data integrity.
• It acts as a cross-reference between two tables as it references the
primary key of another table.
• Foreign keys are the columns of a table that points to the candidate
key of another table.
 Keys Summary
 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} 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 from Referenced relation.

dbit322024=# create table dept(did serial primary key,dname text);

dbit322024=# create table employee(eid serial primary key,ename text, did

int references dept(did));