Chapter 2:

Introduction to Relational Model

Database System Concepts, 6th Ed.

©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
See www.db-book.com for conditions on re-use
 Relational Model
 The relational data model is based on a collection of
tables each of which is assigned a unique name.
 The user of the database system may query these
tables, insert new tuples, delete tuples, and update
(modify) tuples. There are several languages for
expressing these operations.

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 2.2 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Example of a Relation

attributes
(or columns)

tuples
(or rows)

 Relation:
A Table
 Tuple:
A Row
 Attributes:
A Column
header

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 2.3 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Attribute Types

 The set of allowed values for each attribute is

called the domain of the attribute
 Attribute values are (normally) required to be
atomic; that is, indivisible
 The special value null is a member of every domain
 The null value causes complications in the
definition of many operations

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 2.4 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Relation Schema and Instance
 The schema of a relation refers to its logical design. The
schema of a relation includes its attributes, and optionally
the types of the attributes and constraints on the relation
such as primary and foreign key constraints.
 Example: instructor(id, name, dept_name, salary)

 An instance of the relation refers to its contents at a

point in time.
 The current values (relation instance) of a relation are
specified by the rowa of a table.
 An element t of r is a tuple, represented by a row in a
table.

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 2.5 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Relations are Unordered

 Order of tuples is irrelevant (tuples may be stored in an

arbitrary order)
 Example: instructor relation with unordered tuples

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 2.6 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Database
 A database consists of multiple relations
 Information about an enterprise is broken up into parts

instructor
student
advisor
 Bad design:
univ (instructor -ID, name, dept_name, salary,
student_Id, ..)
results in
 repetition of information (e.g., two students have the same
instructor)
 the need for null values (e.g., represent an student with
no advisor)
 Normalization theory (Chapter 7) deals with how to design
“good” relational schemas

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 2.7 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Keys
 Let K  R
 K is a superkey of R if values for K are sufficient to identify
a unique tuple of each possible relation r(R)
 Example: {ID} and {ID,name} are both superkeys of
instructor.
 Superkey K is a candidate key if K is minimal
Example: {ID} is a candidate key for Instructor
 One of the candidate keys is selected to be the primary
key.
 which one?
 Foreign key constraint: Value in one relation must appear
in another
 Referencing relation
 Referenced relation

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 2.8 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Schema Diagram for University
Database

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 2.9 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Relational Query Languages
 Procedural vs.non-procedural, or declarative
 Procedural: the user instructs the system to perform a
sequence of operations on the database to compute the
desired result.
 Non-procedural: the user describes the desired
information without
 giving a specific procedure for obtaining that information.
 “Pure” and formal languages:
 Relational algebra
 Tuple relational calculus
 Domain relational calculus
 Relational operators

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 2.10 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Selection of tuples
 Relation
r

 Select tuples with

A=B and D > 5
 σ A=B and D > 5 (r)

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 2.11 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Selection of Columns (Attributes)

 Relation r:

 Select A and C
Projection
Π A, C (r)

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 2.12 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Joining two relations – Cartesian
Product
 Relations r, s:

 r x s:

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 2.13 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Union of two relations
 Relations r, s:

 r  s:

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 2.14 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Set difference of two relations
 Relations r, s:

 r – s:

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 2.15 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Set Intersection of two relations
 Relation r, s:

 rs

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 2.16 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Joining two relations – Natural
Join

 Let r and s be relations on schemas R and S

respectively.
Then, the “natural join” of relations R and S is a
relation on schema R  S obtained as follows:
 Consider each pair of tuples tr from r and ts
from s.
 If tr and ts have the same value on each of the
attributes in R  S, add a tuple t to the result,
where
 t has the same value as tr on r

 t has the same value as ts on s

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 2.17 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Natural Join Example
 Relations r, s:

 Natural Join
 r s

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 2.18 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Figure in-2.1

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 2.19 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 End of Chapter 2

Database System Concepts, 6th Ed.

©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
See www.db-book.com for conditions on re-use
 Figure 2.01

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 2.21 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Figure 2.02

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 2.22 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Figure 2.03

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 2.23 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Figure 2.04

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 2.24 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Figure 2.05

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 2.25 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Figure 2.06

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 2.26 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Figure 2.07

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 2.27 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Figure 2.10

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 2.28 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Figure 2.11

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 2.29 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Figure 2.12

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 2.30 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Figure 2.13

Database System Concepts - 6th Edition 2.31 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan