The Relational Database Model

Fundamental concepts
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The relational database model is data model representing data in the form of relations (tables) Entity is a person, place, event, animal or thing about which we want to collect data Entity set is a grouping of related entities. Example: students taking IS&T 365 Attribute is a characteristic of an entity. Examples are SSN, Name, Age
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A relation is a two dimensional table of rows of data about some entities F-Name John David

! Example: Student relation SSN L-Name 300 00 0000 Floyd 200 00 0000 Hansen

! Each column represents an attribute ! Note: the order of the rows and columns is immaterial to the user
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! The degree of a relation is the number of attributes in a relation ! Each row (called also tuple) in the table represents a single entity ! Attribute domain is the set from which an attribute takes its value
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Some domains are:

! ! ! ! Numeric: example: 4; 2.5; -30.354 Character (string): example: A; Ali, $ Date: example: 5/23/88 Logic: example: yes/no; true/false
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Null value: a value given to an attribute in a tuple if the attribute is inapplicable or its value is unknown ! A null value is not a blank or zero, it is simply unknown or inapplicable and may be supplied at later time ! A relationship is a linking between entities of two entity sets ! A recursive relationship is relationship that relates an entity set to itself
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Employee

Supervise

Employee
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Functional dependency ! An attribute Y is functionally dependent on X if and only if each value in column X determines one and only one value in column Y. We say X is the determinant ! Note: X and Y can be sets of attributes rather than single attributes. ! Notation: X --------> Y

Example: what are the different functional dependencies in the following relation? A a1 a1 a2 a2 B b1 b2 b1 b2 C c1 c1 c1 c1 D d4 d4 d3 d3 E e6 e7 e6 e7 B------->C E------->B
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A------->C B------->E D------->A

A------->D D------->C

Superkey: an attribute (or a combination of attributes) that uniquely identifies each row in a relation candidate key: a minimal set of attributes that uniquely identifies each row in a table. That is, a superkey that does not contain a subset of attributes that is itself a superkey Primary key: The candidate key designated for principal use in uniquely identifying tuples in a relation

Secondary key: an attribute (or a combination of attributes) used strictly for data retrieval purposes. Example: use of name or phone number instead of customer number Foreign key: an attribute (or a combination of attributes) in one relation that constitutes a primary key in another relation. It is used to indicate logical links between relations Key attribute: an attribute that is part of the primary key of a relation

Example: STUDENT(SSN, Name, Address) TAKE-COURSE(SSN, C-Call#) COURSE(C-Call#, C.Name, Room, Building) C-Call# in the relation TAKE-COURSE is a foreign key that references C-Call# in the relation COURSE. Also, SSN in TAKE-COURSE is a foreign key

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Integrity constraints (rules)

! A integrity constraint is a rule that restricts the values in a database ! There are two constraints:
1.! Entity integrity: no key attribute in any row in a table may be null. The values of the primary key should be unique/distinct. Example: it is not acceptable to include a student in the table STUDENT without entering her/his SSN
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2.! Referential integrity: the value of a non-null foreign key must be a value of the primary key in the other corresponding relation
Example: 302 55 2121 BA530 is a tuple in TAKE-COURSE. Since BA530 is a nonnull value of the foreign key C-Call# in the relation TAKE-COURSE, therefore a course with call # BA530 must be included in the relation COURSE
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Relation database operators 1. SELECT: creates a new relation by selecting only rows from an original an original relation that satisfy a specified condition. The operators that can be used in the conditions =, <, >, _, _, NOT, AND, OR and combinations of these operators.

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Example: COURSE Course# MA330 CIS720 STUDENT S# 200 335 200 Name John Mary John Course# MA330 MA330 CIS720
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C-H 2 5

LOC HH220 BS321

Query: Give full information about courses having more than 4 credit hours Result: Course# CHour LOC CIS720 5 BS321 2. PROJECT: creates a new table by selecting only specified columns from an original table Query: What are the numbers of courses offered? Solution: PROJECT COURSE on Course# Result: Course# MA330 CIS720
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3. JOIN: combines two or more relations 3.1 Natural JOIN: using two tables A and B, Natural JOIN creates a new table that contains every row from A combined with every row from B.

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Example: the Natural JOIN of COURSE and STUDENT is Course# C-H LOC S# NameCourse# MA330 2 HH220 200 John MA330 MA330 2 HH220 335 Mary MA330 MA330 2 HH220 200 John CIS720 CIS720 5 BS321 200 John MA330 CIS720 5 BS321 335 Mary MA330 CIS720 5 BS321 200 John CIS720

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3.2 Equi JOIN: It eliminates from the table obtained with the Natural JOIN operator all unmatched pairs using the common attribute. Example: The Equi JOIN of COURSE and STUDENT is
Course# C-H LOC S# Name Course#

MA330 MA330 CIS720

2 2 5

HH220 HH220 BS321

200 John MA330 335 Mary MA330 200 John CIS720

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The JOIN operator can be combined with other operators Example: List the S# and Names of students taking a course with more than 3 credits hours Solution: a. Equi JOIN COURSE and STUDENT to obtain relation A b. SELECT from A only tuples in which the value of the attribute C-H is greater than 3. We obtain relation B c. PROJECT table B on S# and Name
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Result: S# Name 201 John

4. UNION: creates a new table as the combination

(union) of two or more union compatible relations Two relations are union compatible if they have equivalent columns as to their numbers and domains

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Example: Relation R1: S# NameCourse# 200 John MA330 335 Mary MA330 200 John CIS720 Relation R2: S# NameCourse# 500 John MA330 335 Mary MA330 250 David BU200
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R1 UNION R2: S# NameCourse# 200 John MA330 335 Mary MA330 200 John CIS720 500 John MA330 250 David BU200

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5. INTERSECTION: creates a new table that includes all rows that appear in both tables Example: R1 INTERSECT R2: S# Name Course# 335 Mary MA330

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6. DIFFERENCE (SUBTRACTION): using two tables, this operator creates a new table that includes rows that are in the first relation but not in the second relation Example: R1 SUBTRACT R2: S# NameCourse# 200 John MA330 200 John CIS720

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7. PRODUCT: creates a new table by listing all pairs of rows from two tables Example: R1 R2 R1 PRODUCT R2 A B C A B C a1 b1 c1 a1 b1 c1 a2 b2 c2 a1 b1 c2 a2 b2 c1 a2 b2 c2

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8. DIVIDE: creates a new relation by selecting the rows in one relation that match every row in the other relation. To be included in the new table, a value (s) in the "unshared" column (s) in table 1 (in the following example LOC) must be associated (in the dividing table 2) with every value in table 1.

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Example: Table 1 Code Loc a 5 b 5 c 6 d 7 d 8 e 8 a 6 b 6 b 3

Table 2
Nb 2 2 2 3 1 5 2 3 5 Code Nb a 2 b 2

New table
Loc 5

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Relationships within the relation database

! The Entity-Relationship (E-R) model shows entities and their interrelationships.
or or indicates "one" indicates "many"

! The direction of the arrow indicates the direction of the relationship

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1. 1:M relationship

DEPARTMENT
1 M

Example: DEPARTMENT D# D.Name Loc 100 Finance A1 120 Markg A2 150 Actg A3

EMPLOYEE

EMPLOYEE E# E.Name 1500 John 1210 Mary 2200 David 3500 Paul

D# 100 100 120 100

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The 1:M relationship is implemented in the relational database model by including the primary key of the "one" in the "many" table

2. M:M relationship
COURSE
M M

Student 200 John

Courses taken 365 database 212 OS 170 Hardware 365 212 400 database OS Commun
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STUDENT

300 Mary

STUDENT table S# S.Name C# 200 John 365 200 John 212 200 John 170 300 Mary 365 300 Mary 212 300 Mary 400

COURSE table C# C.Name 365 Database 365 database 212 OS 212 OS 170 Hardware 400 Commun

S# 200 300 200 300 200 300

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The two tables contain a lot of data redundancy. To overcome this problem, we create a composite or bridge entity set for which we create a new table whose primary key is composed of the key attributes of the tables that must be linked.
COURSE
1 M TAKE M

STUDENT
1

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STUDENT table S# S.Name 200 John 300 May

COURSE table C# C.Name 365 Database 212 OS 170 Hardware 400 Commun

TAKE table S# 200 200 200 300 300 300

C# 365 212 170 365 212 400

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This table contains the minimum amount of duplicated data.

Mapping Supertype/Subtype Relationships

! Example: There are three groups of employees: Hourly employees, Salaried employees, and Consultants. Supertype relation Subtype relations

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Mapping Supertype/Subtype Relationships (cont.)

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Indexes: used to speed up the retrieval of data in a database. An index table is conceptually composed of: ! Index key: usually the primary key of the "one" relation ! Set of pointers: the row numbers in the "many" table to which the index points

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Example:
DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE D# D.Name Loc E# E.Name D# 100 Finance A1 1500 John 100 120 Markg A2 1210 Mary 100 150 Actg A3 2200 David 120 3500 Paul 150 The index table looks like this: 100 1 2 120 3 150 4

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