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Lec 5a

Here are the key differences: - A primary key uniquely identifies each tuple in a relation, while an alternate key can also uniquely identify tuples but is not chosen as the primary key. - A foreign key references the primary key of another relation, while a primary key uniquely identifies tuples within its own relation. For the domain example, an attribute like Employee ID with a domain like {100, 101, 102...} where all values must be an integer ID number.

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30 views24 pages

Lec 5a

Here are the key differences: - A primary key uniquely identifies each tuple in a relation, while an alternate key can also uniquely identify tuples but is not chosen as the primary key. - A foreign key references the primary key of another relation, while a primary key uniquely identifies tuples within its own relation. For the domain example, an attribute like Employee ID with a domain like {100, 101, 102...} where all values must be an integer ID number.

Uploaded by

nabeel.fam2000
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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MIS309 – Database Management Systems

Pearson Education © 2009


Lecture 5 - Chapter 4

The Relational Model

Pearson Education © 2009


Chapter 4 - Objectives
 Terminology of relational model.
 How tables are used to represent data.
 Connection between mathematical relations
and relations in the relational model.
 Properties of database relations.
 How to identify CK, PK, and FKs.
 Meaning of entity integrity and referential
integrity.
 Purpose and advantages of views.

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Pearson Education © 2009
Relational Model Terminology
 A relation is a table with columns and rows.
– Only applies to logical structure of the
database, not the physical structure.

 Attribute is a named column of a relation.

 Domain is the set of allowable values for one or


more attributes.

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Pearson Education © 2009
Relational Model Terminology
 Tuple is a row of a relation.

 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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Pearson Education © 2009
Instances of Branch and Staff Relations

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Pearson Education © 2009
Examples of Attribute Domains

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Pearson Education © 2009
Alternative Terminology for Relational Model

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Pearson Education © 2009
Mathematical Definition of Relation
 Consider two sets, D1 & D2, where D1 = {2, 4} and D2
= {1, 3, 5}.
 Cartesian product, D1 ´ D2, is set of all ordered
pairs, where first element is member of D1 and
second element is member of D2.

D1 ´ D2 = {(2, 1), (2, 3), (2, 5), (4, 1), (4, 3), (4, 5)}

 Alternative way is to find all combinations of


elements with first from D1 and second from D2.
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Pearson Education © 2009
Mathematical Definition of Relation
 Any subset of Cartesian product is a relation; e.g.
R = {(2, 1), (4, 1)}
 May specify which pairs are in relation using
some condition for selection; e.g.
– second element is 1:
R = {(x, y) | x ÎD1, y ÎD2, and y = 1}
– first element is always twice the second:
S = {(x, y) | x ÎD1, y ÎD2, and x = 2y}

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Pearson Education © 2009
Mathematical Definition of Relation
 Consider three sets D1, D2, D3 with Cartesian
Product D1 ´ D2 ´ D3; e.g.

D1 = {1, 3} D2 = {2, 4} D3 = {5, 6}


D1 ´ D2 ´ D3 = {(1,2,5), (1,2,6), (1,4,5), (1,4,6),
(3,2,5), (3,2,6), (3,4,5), (3,4,6)}

 Any subset of these ordered triples is a


relation.
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Pearson Education © 2009
Mathematical Definition of Relation
 Cartesian product of n sets (D1, D2, . . ., Dn) is:

D1 ´ D2 ´ . . . ´ Dn = {(d1, d2, . . . , dn) | d1 ÎD1, d2 ÎD2, . . . ,


dnÎDn}
usually written as:
n
XDi
i=1

 Any set of n-tuples from this Cartesian product is


a relation on the n sets.

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Pearson Education © 2009
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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Pearson Education © 2009
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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Pearson Education © 2009
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.

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Pearson Education © 2009
Relational Keys
 Superkey
– An attribute, or set of attributes, that uniquely
identifies a tuple within a relation.

 Candidate Key
– Superkey (K) such that no proper subset is a superkey
within the relation.
– In each tuple of R, values of K uniquely identify that
tuple (uniqueness).
– No proper subset of K has the uniqueness property
(irreducibility).

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Pearson Education © 2009
All are super keys

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20
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This done by
DB designer

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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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Pearson Education © 2009
Exercise 5
 What is the difference between a Primary Key
and an Alternate Key?

 What is the difference between a Foreign Key


and a Primary Key?

 “Values of an attribute are all from the same


domain”. Give an example of an attribute with
an associated domain specification to illustrate
this sentence.

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Pearson Education © 2009

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