Chapter 3

The Relational Model

Transparencies

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Chapter 3 - 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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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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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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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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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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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 D1, y D2, and y = 1}
– first element is always twice the second:
S = {(x, y) | x D1, y D2, and x = 2y}

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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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Mathematical Definition of Relation
 Cartesian product of n sets (D1, D2, . . ., Dn) is:

D1  D2 . . .Dn = {(d1, d2, . . . , dn) | d1 D1, d2

D2, . . . , dnDn}
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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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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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.

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Relational Keys
 Superkey (primary key)
– An attribute, or set of attributes, that uniquely
identifies a tuple within a relation.

 Candidate Key
– In each tuple of R, values of K uniquely identify that
tuple (uniqueness).

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Relational Keys

 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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Integrity Constraints
 Null
– Represents value for an attribute that is
currently unknown or not applicable for tuple.
– Deals with incomplete or exceptional data.
– Represents the absence of a value and is not the
same as zero or spaces, which are values.

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Integrity Constraints
 Entity Integrity
– In a base relation, no attribute of a primary
key can be null.

 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
– Additional rules specified by users or
database administrators that define or
constrain some aspect of the enterprise.

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Views
 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, at time of request.

 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.

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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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