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unit 2 rm

The Relational Model (RM) organizes data as a collection of relations, represented by tables where rows denote related data values. Key concepts include attributes, tuples, and integrity constraints, which ensure data validity and uniqueness. While the model offers advantages like simplicity and data independence, it also has limitations such as field length restrictions and potential complexity with large datasets.

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6 views

unit 2 rm

The Relational Model (RM) organizes data as a collection of relations, represented by tables where rows denote related data values. Key concepts include attributes, tuples, and integrity constraints, which ensure data validity and uniqueness. While the model offers advantages like simplicity and data independence, it also has limitations such as field length restrictions and potential complexity with large datasets.

Uploaded by

subathra devi
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Relational Model (RM) represents the database as a collection of relations.

A relation is nothing but a


table of values. Every row in the table represents a collection of related data values. These rows in the
table denote a real-world entity or relationship.
The table name and column names are helpful to interpret the meaning of values in each row. The data are
represented as a set of relations. In the relational model, data are stored as tables. However, the physical
storage of the data is independent of the way the data are logically organized.

Some popular Relational Database management systems are:

 DB2 and Informix Dynamic Server – IBM


 Oracle and RDB – Oracle
 SQL Server and Access – Microsoft

Relational Model Concepts in DBMS

1. Attribute: Each column in a Table. Attributes are the properties which define a relation. e.g.,
Student_Rollno, Name, etc.
2. Tables – In the Relational model the, relations are saved in the table format. It is stored along
with its entities. A table has two properties rows and columns. Rows represent records and
columns represent attributes.
3. Tuple – It is nothing but a single row of a table, which contains a single record.
4. Relation Schema: A relation schema represents the name of the relation with its attributes.
5. Degree: The total number of attributes which in the relation is called the degree of the relation.
6. Cardinality: Total number of rows present in the Table.
7. Column: The column represents the set of values for a specific attribute.
8. Relation instance – Relation instance is a finite set of tuples in the RDBMS system. Relation
instances never have duplicate tuples.
9. Relation key – Every row has one, two or multiple attributes, which is called relation key.
10. Attribute domain – Every attribute has some pre-defined value and scope which is known as
attribute domain.
Relational Integrity Constraints
Relational Integrity constraints in DBMS are referred to conditions which must be present for a valid relation.
These Relational constraints in DBMS are derived from the rules in the mini-world that the database
represents.

There are many types of Integrity Constraints in DBMS. Constraints on the Relational database management
system is mostly divided into three main categories are:

1. Domain Constraints
2. Key Constraints
3. Referential Integrity Constraints

Domain Constraints
Domain constraints can be violated if an attribute value is not appearing in the corresponding domain or it is
not of the appropriate data type.

Domain constraints specify that within each tuple, and the value of each attribute must be unique. This is
specified as data types which include standard data types integers, real numbers, characters, Booleans,
variable length strings, etc.

Key Constraints
An attribute that can uniquely identify a tuple in a relation is called the key of the table. The value of the
attribute for different tuples in the relation has to be unique.
Example:

CustomerID CustomerName Status


1 Google Active

2 Amazon Active

3 Apple Inactive

In the given table, CustomerID is a key attribute of Customer Table. It is most likely to have a single key
for one customer, CustomerID =1 is only for the CustomerName =” Google”.

Referential Integrity Constraints


Referential Integrity constraints in DBMS are based on the concept of Foreign Keys. A foreign key is an
important attribute of a relation which should be referred to in other relationships. Referential integrity
constraint state happens where relation refers to a key attribute of a different or same relation. However,
that key element must exist in the table.

Example:

In the above example, we have 2 relations, Customer and Billing.

Tuple for CustomerID =1 is referenced twice in the relation Billing. So we know CustomerName=Google
has billing amount $300

Operations in Relational Model


Four basic update operations performed on relational database model are

Insert, update, delete and select.

 Insert is used to insert data into the relation


 Delete is used to delete tuples from the table.
 Modify allows you to change the values of some attributes in existing tuples.
 Select allows you to choose a specific range of data.
Whenever one of these operations are applied, integrity constraints specified on the relational database
schema must never be violated.

Insert Operation
The insert operation gives values of the attribute for a new tuple which should be inserted into a relation.

Update Operation
You can see that in the below-given relation table CustomerName= „Apple‟ is updated from Inactive to
Active.

Delete Operation
To specify deletion, a condition on the attributes of the relation selects the tuple to be deleted.

In the above-given example, CustomerName= “Apple” is deleted from the table.

The Delete operation could violate referential integrity if the tuple which is deleted is referenced by foreign
keys from other tuples in the same database.

Select Operation
In the above-given example, CustomerName=”Amazon” is selected

Advantages of Relational Database Model

 Simplicity: A Relational data model in DBMS is simpler than the hierarchical


and network model.
 Structural Independence: The relational database is only concerned with data
and not with a structure. This can improve the performance of the model.
 Easy to use: The Relational model in DBMS is easy as tables consisting of rows and
columns are quite natural and simple to understand
 Query capability: It makes possible for a high-level query language like SQL to
avoid complex database navigation.
 Data independence: The Structure of Relational database can be changed
without having to change any application.
 Scalable: Regarding a number of records, or rows, and the number of fields, a
database should be enlarged to enhance its usability.

Disadvantages of Relational Model

 Few relational databases have limits on field lengths which can‟t be exceeded.
 Relational databases can sometimes become complex as the amount of data
grows, and the relations between pieces of data become more complicated.
 Complex relational database systems may lead to isolated databases where the
information cannot be shared from one system to another.

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