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Unit 9: Relational Calculus 1

DCA2102: Database Management System Manipal University Jaipur (MUJ)

Unit 9
Relational Calculus
Table of Contents

SL Topic Fig No / Table / SAQ / Page No

No Graph Activity
1 Introduction - -
3
1.1 Objectives - -
2 Tuple Relational Calculus - 1

2.1 Semantics of TRC Queries 1, 2, 3, 4 - 4–9

2.2 Examples of TRC Queries - -

3 Domain Relational Calculus - 2 10 – 12
4 Relational ALGEBRA vs Relational CALCULUS - 3 13 – 14
5 Summary - 15 - 16
6 Terminal Questions - - 15
7 Answers - - 16

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1. INTRODUCTION
Relational calculus is an alternative to relational algebra. In contrast to algebra, which is
procedural, the calculus is nonprocedural, or declarative, in that it allows us to describe
the set of answers, without being explicitabout how they should be computed. Relational
calculus has had a big influence on the design of commercial query languages such as SQL
and, especially, Query-by-Example (QBE).

The variant of the calculus that we present in detail is called the tuple relational calculus
(TRC). Variables in TRC take on tuples as values. In another variant, called the domain
relational calculus (DRC), the variables range over field values. TRC has had more of an
influence on SQL, while DRC has strongly influenced QBE.

1.1 Objectives:
After learning this unit, you should be able to:

❖ Explain about relational calculus.

❖ Describe about tuple relational calculus and its semantics.
❖ Explain about domain relational calculus
❖ Differentiate relational ALGEBRA and relational CALCULUS

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2. TUPLE RELATIONAL CALCULUS

A tuple variable is a variable that takes on tuples of a particular relation schema as values.
That is, every value assigned to a given tuple variable has the same number and type of
fields. A tuple relational calculus query has the form { T | p(T) } where T is a tuple variable
and p(T) denotes a formula that describes T; we will shortly define formulas and queries
rigorously. The result of this query is the set of all tuples t for which the formula p(T)
evaluates to true with T = t. The language for writing formulas p(T) is thus at the heart of
TRC and is essentially a simple subset of first-order logic. As a simple example, consider the
following query.

For Example: Find all sailors with a rating above 7. (Sailors- S is a relation)
{ S | S ε Sailors ^ S: rating > 7 }

When this query is evaluated on an instance of the Sailors relation, the tuplevariable S is
instantiated successively with each tuple, and the test S.rating>7 is applied. The answer
contains those instances of S that pass this test.

Syntax of TRC Queries

We now define these concepts formally, beginning with the notion of a formula. Let Rel be a
relation name, R and S be tuple variables, a an attribute of R, and b an attribute of S. Let op
denote an operator in the set(<, >, =, ≤, ≥ ). An atomic formula is one of the following:
• R ε Rel (ε is belongs to)
• R.a op S.b
• R.a op constant, or constant op R.a

A formula is recursively defined to be one of the following, where p and q are themselves
formulas, and p(R) denotes a formula in which the variableR appears:

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In the last two clauses above, the quantifiers “For any” and “For all” are said to bind the
variable R. A variable is said to be free in a formula or subformula (a formula contained in a
larger formula) if the subformula does not contain an occurrence of a quantifier that binds
it.

We observe that every variable in a TRC formula appears in a subformula that is atomic, and
every relation schema specifies a domain for each field; this observation ensures that each
variable in a TRC formula has a well-defined domain from which values for the variable are
drawn. That is, each variable has a well-defined type, in the programming language sense.
Informally, an atomic formula R ε Rel gives R the type of tuples in Rel, and comparisons such
as R.a op S.b and R.a op constant induce type restrictions on the field R.a. If a variable R does
not appear in an atomic formula of the form R ε Rel (i.e., it appears only in atomic formulas
that are comparisons), we will follow the convention that the type of R is a tuple, whose fields
include all (and only) fields of R that appear in the formula.

We will not define types of variables formally, but the type of a variable should be clear in
most cases, and the important point to note is that comparisons of values having different
types should always fail. (In discussions of relational calculus, the simplifying assumption is
often made that there is a single domain of constants and that this is the domain associated
with each field of each relation.)

A TRC query is defined to be an expression of the form { T | p(T) }, where T is the only free
variable in the formula p.

2.1 Semantics of TRC Queries

What does a TRC query mean? More precisely, what is the set of answer tuples for a given
TRC query? The answer to a TRC query { T | p(T) }, as we noted earlier, is the set of all tuples
t for which the formula p(T) evaluates to true with variable T assigned the tuple value t. To
complete this definition, we must state which assignments of tuple values to the free
variables in a formula make the formula evaluate to true.

A query is evaluated on a given instance of the database. Let each free variable in a formula
F be bound to a tuple value. For the given assignment of tuples to variables, with respect

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to the given database instance,F evaluates to (or simply ‘is') true if one of the following
holds:
• F is an atomic formula R ε Rel, and R is assigned a tuple in the instanceof relation Rel.
• F is a comparison R.a op S.b, R.a op constant, or constant op R.a, and the tuples assigned
to R and S have field values R.a and S.b that make the comparison true.
• F is of the form ¬p, and p is not true or of the form p ^ q and both p andq are true; or of
the form p ν q, and one of them is true, or of the form (p)q and q is true whenever p is
true.
• F is of the form For Any R(p(R)), and there is some assignment of tuplesto the free
variables in p(R), including the variable R that makes the formula p(R) true.
• F is of the form For all R(p(R)), and there is some assignment of tuplesto the free
variables in p(R) that makes the formula p(R) true no matter what tuple is assigned to
R.

2.2 Examples of TRC Queries

We now illustrate the calculus through several examples, using the instances B1 of Boats,
R2 of Reserves, and S3 of Sailors shown in Figures 9.1, 9.2, and 9.3. We will use parentheses,
as needed, to make our formulas unambiguous. Often, a formula p(R) includes a condition R
ε Rel and the meaning of the phrases some tuple R and for all tuples R is intuitive. We will use
the notation For any R ε Rel(p(R)) for any R(R ε Rel ^ p(R)).

Fig 9.1: An Instance S3 of Sailors Fig 9.2: An Instance R2 of Reserves

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Fig 9.3: An Instance B1 of Boats

Similarly, we use the notation For all R ε Rel(p(R)) for all R(R ε Rel) p(R)).Find the names
and ages of sailors with a rating above 7.

This query illustrates a useful convention: P is considered to be a tuple variable with exactly
two fields, which are called name and age, because these are the only fields of P that are
mentioned and P does not range over any of the relations in the query; that is, there is no
subformula of the formP ε Relname. The result of this query is a relation with two fields,
name and age. The atomic formulas P.name = S.sname and P.age = S.age give values to the
fields of an answer tuple P. On instances B1, R2, and S3, the answer is the set of tuples
<Lubber, 55:5>, <Andy, 25:5>, <Rusty, 35.0>, <Zorba, 16.0>, and <Horatio, 35.0>.

Find the sailor name, boat id, and reservation date for each reservation.

For each reserve tuple, we look for a tuple in Sailors with the same sid. Given a pair of such
tuples, we construct an answer tuple P with fields sname, bid, and day by copying the
corresponding fields from these two tuples. This query illustrates how we can combine
values from different relations in each answer tuple. The answer to this query on instances
B1, R2, and S3 is shown in Figure 9.4.

Find the names of sailors who have reserved boat 103.

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This query can be read as follows: “Retrieve all sailor tuples for which thereexists a tuple in
Reserves, having the same value in the sid field, and with bid = 103." That is, for each sailor
tuple, we look for a tuple in Reserves thatshows that this sailor has reserved boat 103. The
answer tuple P contains just one field, sname.

(Q2) Find the names of sailors who have reserved a red boat.

Fig 9.4: Answer to Query

This query can be read as follows: “Retrieve all sailor tuples S for which there exist tuples R
in Reserves and B in Boats such that S.sid = R.sid, R.bid = B.bid, and B.color = ‘red’.” Another
way to write this query, which corresponds more closely to this reading, is as follows:

(Q7) Find the names of sailors who have reserved at least two boats.

Contrast this query with the algebra version and see how much simpler the calculus version
is. In part, this difference is due to the cumbersome renaming of fields in the algebra version,
but the calculus version really is simpler.

(Q9) Find the names of sailors who have reserved all boats.

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This query was expressed using the division operator in relational algebra. Notice how easy
it is expressed in calculus. The calculus query directly reflects how we might express the
query in English: “Find sailors S such thatfor all boats B there is a Reserves tuple showing
that sailor S has reserved boat B.”

(Q14) Find sailors who have reserved all red boats.

This query can be read as follows: For each candidate (sailor), if a boat is red, the sailor must
have reserved it. That is, for a candidate sailor, a boat being red must imply the sailor having
reserved it. Observe that since we can return an entire sailor tuple as the answer instead of
just the sailor's name, we have avoided introducing a new free variable (e.g., the variable P
in the previous example) to hold the answer values. In instances B1, R2, and S3, the answer
contains the Sailors tuples with sids 22 and 31.

We can write this query without using implication, by observing that an expression of the
form p=>q is logically equivalent to ¬pνq:

This query should be read as follows: “Find sailors S such that for all boats B, either the boat
is not red, or a Reserves tuple shows that sailor S has reserved boat B.”

Self-Assessment Questions – 1

1. A _______is a variable that takes on tuples of a particular relation schema as

values.
2. A TRC stands for ___________.
3. In the atomic formula clauses, the quantifiers “For any” and “For all” aresaid to
_______the variable R.
4. A ________query is defined to be expression of the form { T | p(T) },where T
is the only free variable in the formula p.
5. A query is evaluated on a given __________of the database.

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3. DOMAIN RELATIONAL CALCULUS

A domain variable is a variable that ranges over the values in the domainof some attribute
(e.g., the variable can be assigned an integer if it appears in an attribute whose domain is the
set of integers). A DRC query has the form { <x1, x2, …… xn> | p(<x1, x2, …. Xn>) }, where each
xi is either a domain variable or a constant and p(<x1, x2, …. Xn>) denotes a DRCformula
whose only free variables are the variables among the xi ; 1 ≤ I ≤ n. The result of this query is
the set of all tuples <x1, x2…. xn> for which the formula evaluates to true.

A DRC formula is defined in a manner that is very similar to the definition of a TRC formula.
The main difference is that the variables are now domain variables. Let op denote an
operator in the set { <, >,=, ≤, ≥, ≠ } and let X and Y be domain variables.

An atomic formula in DRC is one of the following:

• <x1, x2,….. xn> ε Rel, where Rel is a relation with n attributes; each xi ; 1
≤ I ≤ n is either a variable or a constant.
• X op Y
• X op constant, or constant op X

A formula is recursively defined to be one of the following, where p and q are themselves
formulas, and p(X) denotes a formula in which the variable X appears: any atomic formula.

The reader is invited to compare this definition with the definition of TRC formulas and see
how closely these two definitions correspond. We will not define the semantics of DRC
formulas formally; this is left as an exercise forthe reader.

Examples of DRC Queries

We now illustrate DRC through several examples. The reader is invited to compare these
with the TRC versions.

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(Q11) Find all sailors with a rating above 7.

This differs from the TRC version in giving each attribute a (variable) name. The condition <
I,N,T,A > ε Sailors ensures that the domain variables I, N, T,and A are restricted to be fields of
the same tuple. In comparison with the TRC query, we can say T > 7 instead of S.rating > 7,
but we must specifythe tuple < I,N, T,A> in the result, rather than just S.

(Q1) Find the names of sailors who have reserved boat 103.

Notice that only the sname field is retained in the answer and that only N isa free variable.
We use the notation For any Ir, Br, D(…) as a shorthand for For any Ir(For any Br(For any D(:
: :))).

Very often, all the quantified variables appear in a single relation, as in this example. An even
more compact notation in this case is For any < Ir, Br, D> ε Reserves. With this notation, which
we will use henceforth, the above query would be as follows:

The comparison with the corresponding TRC formula should now be straightforward. This
query can also be written as follows; notice the repetition of variable I and the use of the
constant 103:

(Q2) Find the names of sailors who have reserved a red boat.

(Q7) Find the names of sailors who have reserved at least two boats
〈〉
〈〉|{N | I , T, A
( I, N,T, A
 Sailors 
Br1, Br2, D1, D2 (
I, Br1, D1 Reserves 
I, Br2, D2 Reserves  Br1  Br2)

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〈〉〈〉Notice how the repeated use of variable I ensures that the same sailor has reserved both
the boats in question.

(Q9) Find the names of sailors who have reserved all boats.

This query can be read as follows: “Find all values of N such that there is some tuple <I,N,T,A>
in Sailors satisfying the following condition: for every <B, BN, C >, either this is not a
tuple in Boats or there is some tuple <Ir, Br,D> in Reserves that proves that Sailor I has
reserved boat B.” The For all quantifier allows the domain variables B, BN, and C to range
overall values in their respective attribute domains, and the pattern ‘ ¬(<B, BN,C> ε Boats) ν
’ is necessary to restrict attention to those values that appear in tuples of Boats. This pattern
is common in DRC formulas, and the notation For all <B, BN,C> ε Boats can be used as a
shorthand instead. This is similar to the notation introduced earlier for for any. With this
notationthe query would be written as follows:

(Q14) Find sailors who have reserved all red boats.

Here, we find all sailors such that for every red boat there is a tuple inReserves that
shows the sailor has reserved it.

Self-Assessment Questions – 2

6. A _______is a variable that ranges over the values in the domainof some attribute.
7. A DRC formula is defined in a manner that is very similar to thedefinition of a
_______.
8. The main difference between the DRC and TRC is that the variablesare now
_______variables.

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4. RELATIONAL ALGEBRA VS RELATIONAL CALCULUS

Relational algebra is a procedural language while relational calculus is a non- procedural
language. We have presented two formal query languages forthe relational model. Are
they equivalent in power? Can every query thatcan be expressed in relational algebra also
be expressed in relational calculus? The answer is yes, it can. Can every query that can be
expressed in relational calculus also be expressed in relational algebra? Before we answer
this question, we consider a major problem with calculus as we have presented it.

Consider the query { S | ¬(S ε Sailors) }. This query is syntactically correct. However, it asks
for all tuples S such that S is not in (the given instance of) Sailors. The set of such S tuples is
obviously infinite, in the context of infinitedomains such as the set of all integers. This simple
example illustrates an unsafe query. It is desirable to restrict relational calculus to disallow
unsafe queries.

We now sketch how calculus queries are restricted to be safe. Consider a set I of relation
instances, with one instance per relation that appears in the query Q. Let Dom(Q,I) be the set
of all constants that appear in these relation instances I, or in the formulation of the query Q
itself. Since we only allow finite instances I, Dom(Q, I) is also finite.

For a calculus formula Q to be considered safe, at a minimum we want to ensure that for any
given I, the set of answers for Q contains only values that are in Dom(Q, I).

While this restriction is obviously required, it is not enough. Not only do we want the set of
answers to be composed of constants in Dom(Q,I), we wish to compute the set of answers by
only examining tuples that contain constants in Dom(Q, I)! This wish leads to a subtle point
associated with theuse of quantifiers For all and For any: Given a TRC formula of the form
For any R(p(R)), we want to find all values for variable R, that make this formulatrue by
checking only tuples that contain constants in Dom(Q, I). Similarly, given a TRC formula of
the form For all R(p(R)), we want to find any values for variable R, that make this formula
false, by checking only tuples that contain constants in Dom(Q, I).

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We therefore define a safe TRC formula Q to be a formula such that:

1. For any given I, the set of answers for Q contains only values that are in Dom(Q,I).
2. For each subexpression of the form For any R(p(R)) in Q, if a tuple r (assigned to
variable R) makes the formula true, then r contains only constants in Dom(Q, I).
3. For each subexpression of the form For all R(p(R)) in Q, if a tuple r (assigned to variable
R) contains a constant that is not in Dom(Q, I), then r must make the formula true.

Note that this definition is not constructive, that is, it does not tell us how to check if a query
is safe.

The query Q = { S |¬(S 2 Sailors) } is unsafe by this definition. Dom(Q,I) is the set of all values
that appear in (an instance I of) Sailors. Consider the instance S1 shown in Figure 9.1. The
answer to this query obviously includes values that do not appear in Dom(Q, S1). Returning
to the questionof expressiveness, we can show that every query that can be expressed using
a safe relational calculus query, can also be expressed as a relational algebra query. The
expressive power of relational algebra is often used as ametric of how powerful a relational
database query language is. If a query language can express all the queries that we can
express in relational algebra, it is said to be relationally complete. A practical query
language isexpected to be relationally complete; in addition, commercial query languages
typically support features that allow us to express some queries that cannot be expressed in
relational algebra.

Self-Assessment Questions – 3

9. Can every query that can be expressed in relational algebra also beexpressed
in relational calculus?
10. If a query language can express all the queries that we can express inrelational
algebra, it is said to be __________.

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5. SUMMARY
In this unit, we dealt with that instead of describing a query by how to compute the output
relation, a relational calculus query describes the tuples in the output relation. The language
for specifying the output tuples is essentially arestricted subset of first-order predicate logic.
In tuple relational calculus, variables take on tuple values and in domain relational calculus,
variables take on field values, but the two versions of the calculus are very similar.

All relational algebra queries can be expressed in relational calculus. If we restrict ourselves
to safe queries on the calculus, the converse also holds. An important criterion for
commercial query languages is that they should berelationally complete in the sense that
they can express all relational algebra queries.

6. TERMINAL QUESTION
1. What is relational completeness? If a query language is relationallycomplete, can you
write any desired query in that language?
2. What is an unsafe query? Give an example and explain why it isimportant to disallow
such queries.
3. Let the following relation schemas be given:
R = (A,B,C)
S = (D,E, F)
Let relations r(R) and s(S) be given. Give an expression in the tuplerelational
calculus that is equivalent to each of the following:
a. ΠA(r)
b. σB =17 (r)
c. r×s
d. ΠA,F (σC =D(r × s))
Let R = (A, B, C), and let r1 and r2 both be relations on schema R. Give an expression in
the domain relational calculus that is equivalent to eachof the following:
a. ΠA(r1)
b. σB =17 (r1)
c. r1 ∪ r2
d. r1 ∩ r2
e. r1 − r2
f. ΠA,B(r1) ∪ B,C(r2)
4. How do you differentiate relational algebra and relational calculus?

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7. ANSWERS
Self-Assessment Questions
1. tuple variable
2. tuple relational calculus
3. bind
4. TRC
5. Instance
6. domain variable
7. TRC formula
8. Domain
9. Yes
10. relationally complete

Terminal Questions
1. If a query language can express all the queries that we can express in relational
algebra, it is said to be relationally complete. Yes, we can write the desired query in
that language if features are supported. (Refer section 4)
2. Queries where the set of S tuples is obviously infinite in the context of infinite
domains such as the set of all integers then such queries are unsafe queries.
3. Refer the whole unit for detail.
4. All relational algebra queries can be expressed in relational calculus. If we restrict
ourselves to safe queries on the calculus, the converse also holds.

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