Chapter 6: Formal Relational Query

Languages

Database System Concepts, 6th Ed.

Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
See www.db-book.com for conditions on re-use
 Outline

Relational Algebra
Tuple Relational Calculus
Domain Relational Calculus

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 6.2 Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Relational Algebra
Procedural language
Six basic operators

select:
project:
union:
set difference:
Cartesian product: x
rename:
The operators take one or two relations as inputs and produce a new
relation as a result.

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 6.3 Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Select Operation
Notation: p(r)
p is called the selection predicate
Defined as:

p(r) = {t | t r and p(t)}

Where p is a formula in propositional calculus consisting of terms

connected by : (and), (or), (not)
Each term is one of:
<attribute> op <attribute> or <constant>
where op is one of: =, , >, . <.

Example of selection:

dept_name=Physics(instructor)

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 6.4 Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Project Operation
Notation:
A1 , A2 ,, Ak (r )
where A1, A2 are attribute names and r is a relation name.
The result is defined as the relation of k columns obtained by erasing
the columns that are not listed
Duplicate rows removed from result, since relations are sets
Example: To eliminate the dept_name attribute of instructor

ID, name, salary (instructor)

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 6.5 Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Union Operation
Notation: r s
Defined as:
r s = {t | t r or t s}
For r s to be valid.
1. r, s must have the same arity (same number of attributes)
2. The attribute domains must be compatible (example: 2nd column
of r deals with the same type of values as does the 2nd
column of s)
Example: to find all courses taught in the Fall 2009 semester, or in the
Spring 2010 semester, or in both

course_id ( semester=Fall year=2009 (section))

course_id ( semester=Spring year=2010 (section))

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 6.6 Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Set Difference Operation
Notation r s
Defined as:
r s = {t | t r and t s}

Set differences must be taken between compatible relations.

r and s must have the same arity
attribute domains of r and s must be compatible
Example: to find all courses taught in the Fall 2009 semester, but
not in the Spring 2010 semester

course_id ( semester=Fall year=2009 (section))

course_id ( semester=Spring year=2010 (section))

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 6.7 Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Set-Intersection Operation
Notation: r s
Defined as:
r s = { t | t r and t s }
Assume:
r, s have the same arity
attributes of r and s are compatible
Note: r s = r (r s)

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 6.8 Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Cartesian-Product Operation
Notation r x s
Defined as:
r x s = {t q | t r and q s}

Assume that attributes of r(R) and s(S) are

disjoint. (That is, R S = ).
If attributes of r(R) and s(S) are not disjoint, then
renaming must be used.

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 6.9 Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Rename Operation
Allows us to name, and therefore to refer to, the results of relational-
algebra expressions.
Allows us to refer to a relation by more than one name.
Example:
x (E)

returns the expression E under the name X

If a relational-algebra expression E has arity n, then

x ( A1 , A2 ,..., An ) ( E )
returns the result of expression E under the name X, and with the
attributes renamed to A1 , A2 , ., An .

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 6.10 Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Formal Definition
A basic expression in the relational algebra consists of either one of the
following:
A relation in the database
A constant relation
Let E1 and E2 be relational-algebra expressions; the following are all
relational-algebra expressions:

E1 E2

E1 E2

E1 x E2

p (E1), P is a predicate on attributes in E1

s(E1), S is a list consisting of some of the attributes in E1

x (E1), x is the new name for the result of E1

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 6.11 Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Tuple Relational Calculus

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 6.12 Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Tuple Relational Calculus

A nonprocedural query language, where each query is of the form

{t | P (t ) }
It is the set of all tuples t such that predicate P is true for t
t is a tuple variable, t [A ] denotes the value of tuple t on attribute A
t r denotes that tuple t is in relation r
P is a formula similar to that of the predicate calculus

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 6.13 Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Predicate Calculus Formula

1. Set of attributes and constants

2. Set of comparison operators: (e.g., , , , , , )
3. Set of connectives: and (), or (v) not ()
4. Implication (): x y, if x if true, then y is true
x y x v y
5. Set of quantifiers:
t r (Q (t )) there exists a tuple in t in relation r
such that predicate Q (t ) is true
t r (Q (t )) Q is true for all tuples t in relation r

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 6.14 Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Example Queries

Find the ID, name, dept_name, salary for instructors whose salary
is greater than $80,000

{t | t instructor t [salary ] 80000}

Notice that a relation on schema (ID, name, dept_name, salary) is
implicitly defined by the query
As in the previous query, but output only the ID attribute value

{t | s instructor (t [ID ] = s [ID ] s [salary ] 80000)}

Notice that a relation on schema (ID) is implicitly defined by

the query

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 6.15 Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Example Queries

Find the names of all instructors whose department is in the Watson

building

{t | s instructor (t [name ] = s [name ]

u department (u [dept_name ] = s[dept_name]
u [building] = Watson ))}

Find the set of all courses taught in the Fall 2009 semester, or in
the Spring 2010 semester, or both

{t | s section (t [course_id ] = s [course_id ]

s [semester] = Fall s [year] = 2009
v u section (t [course_id ] = u [course_id ]
u [semester] = Spring u [year] = 2010 )}

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 6.16 Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Example Queries
Find the set of all courses taught in the Fall 2009 semester, and in
the Spring 2010 semester

{t | s section (t [course_id ] = s [course_id ]

s [semester] = Fall s [year] = 2009
u section (t [course_id ] = u [course_id ]
u [semester] = Spring u [year] = 2010 )}

Find the set of all courses taught in the Fall 2009 semester, but not in
the Spring 2010 semester

{t | s section (t [course_id ] = s [course_id ]

s [semester] = Fall s [year] = 2009
u section (t [course_id ] = u [course_id ]
u [semester] = Spring u [year] = 2010 )}

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 6.17 Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Universal Quantification
Find all students who have taken all courses offered in the
Biology department
{t | r student (t [ID] = r [ID])
( u course (u [dept_name]=Biology
s takes (t [ID] = s [ID ]
s [course_id] = u [course_id]))}

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 6.18 Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Safety of Expressions

It is possible to write tuple calculus expressions that generate

infinite relations.
For example, { t | t r } results in an infinite relation if the domain
of any attribute of relation r is infinite
To guard against the problem, we restrict the set of allowable
expressions to safe expressions.
An expression {t | P (t )} in the tuple relational calculus is safe if
every component of t appears in one of the relations, tuples, or
constants that appear in P
NOTE: this is more than just a syntax condition.
E.g. { t | t [A] = 5 true } is not safe --- it defines an infinite
set with attribute values that do not appear in any relation or
tuples or constants in P.

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 6.19 Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Safety of Expressions (Cont.)
Consider again that query to find all students who have taken
all courses offered in the Biology department
{t | r student (t [ID] = r [ID])
( u course (u [dept_name]=Biology
s takes (t [ID] = s [ID ]
s [course_id] = u [course_id]))}
Without the existential quantification on student, the above
query would be unsafe if the Biology department has not
offered any courses.

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 6.20 Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Domain Relational Calculus

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 6.21 Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Domain Relational Calculus

A nonprocedural query language equivalent in power to the tuple

relational calculus
Each query is an expression of the form:

{ x1, x2, , xn | P (x1, x2, , xn)}

x1, x2, , xn represent domain variables

P represents a formula similar to that of the predicate calculus

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 6.22 Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Example Queries

Find the ID, name, dept_name, salary for instructors whose salary is
greater than $80,000
{< i, n, d, s> | < i, n, d, s> instructor s 80000}
As in the previous query, but output only the ID attribute value
{< i> | < i, n, d, s> instructor s 80000}
Find the names of all instructors whose department is in the Watson
building
{< n > | i, d, s (< i, n, d, s > instructor
b, a (< d, b, a> department b = Watson ))}

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 6.23 Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Example Queries
Find the set of all courses taught in the Fall 2009 semester, or in
the Spring 2010 semester, or both
{<c> | a, s, y, b, r, t ( <c, a, s, y, b, r, t > section
s = Fall y = 2009 )
v a, s, y, b, r, t ( <c, a, s, y, b, r, t > section ]
s = Spring y = 2010)}
This case can also be written as
{<c> | a, s, y, b, r, t ( <c, a, s, y, b, r, t > section
( (s = Fall y = 2009 ) v (s = Spring y = 2010))}
Find the set of all courses taught in the Fall 2009 semester, and in
the Spring 2010 semester

{<c> | a, s, y, b, r, t ( <c, a, s, y, b, r, t > section

s = Fall y = 2009 )
a, s, y, b, r, t ( <c, a, s, y, b, r, t > section ]
s = Spring y = 2010)}

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 6.24 Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Safety of Expressions

The expression:
{ x1, x2, , xn | P (x1, x2, , xn )}

is safe if all of the following hold:

1. All values that appear in tuples of the expression are values
from dom (P ) (that is, the values appear either in P or in a tuple of a
relation mentioned in P ).
2. For every there exists subformula of the form x (P1(x )), the
subformula is true if and only if there is a value of x in dom (P1)
such that P1(x ) is true.
3. For every for all subformula of the form x (P1 (x )), the subformula is
true if and only if P1(x ) is true for all values x from dom (P1).

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 6.25 Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Universal Quantification

Find all students who have taken all courses offered in the Biology
department
{< i > | n, d, tc ( < i, n, d, tc > student
( ci, ti, dn, cr ( < ci, ti, dn, cr > course dn =Biology
si, se, y, g ( <i, ci, si, se, y, g> takes ))}
Note that without the existential quantification on student, the
above query would be unsafe if the Biology department has not
offered any courses.

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 6.26 Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 End of Chapter 6

Database System Concepts, 6th Ed.

Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
See www.db-book.com for conditions on re-use