Relational Algebra

Relational Algebra Archana Gupta CS 157

What is Relational Algebra? • Relational Algebra is formal description of how relational database operates. • It is a procedural query language, i.e. user must define both “how” and “what” to retrieve. • It consists of a set of operators that consume either one or two relations as input. An operator produces one relation as its output.

Introduction to Relational Algebra • Introduced by E. F. Codd in 1970. • Codd proposed such an algebra as a basis for database query languages.

Terminology • Relation - a set of tuples. • Tuple - a collection of attributes which describe some real world entity. • Attribute - a real world role played by a named domain. • Domain - a set of atomic values. • Set - a mathematical definition for a collection of objects which contains no duplicates.

Algebra Operations • Unary Operations - operate on one relation. These include select, project and rename operators. • Binary Operations - operate on pairs of relations. These include union, set difference, division, cartesian product, equality join, natural join, join and semi-join operators.

Select Operator • The Select operator selects tuples that satisfies a predicate; e.g. retrieve the employees whose salary is 30,000 бSalary = 30,000 (Employee) • Conditions in Selection: Simple Condition: (attribute)(comparison)(attribute) (attribute)(comparison)(constant) Comparison: =,≠,≤,≥,<,> Condition: combination of simple conditions with AND, OR, NOT

Select Operator Example Person бAge≥34(Person) бAge=Weight(Person)

Project Operator • Project (∏) retrieves a column. Duplication is not permitted. • e.g., name of employees: ∏name(Employee) e.g., name of employees earning more than 80,000: ∏name(бSalary>80,000(Employee))

Project Operator Example Employee ∏name(Employee)

Project Operator Example бSalary>80,000(Employee) Employee ∏name(бSalary>80,000(Employee))

Cartesian Product • In mathematics, it is a set of all pairs of elements (x, y) that can be constructed from given sets, X and Y, such that x belongs to X and y to Y. • It defines a relation that is the concatenation of every tuple of relation R with every tuple of relation S.

Cartesian Product Example City Person Person X City

Rename Operator • In relational algebra, a rename is a unary operation written as ρ a / b(R) where: a and b are attribute names R is a relation • The result is identical to R except that the b field in all tuples is renamed to an a field. • Example, rename operator changes the name of its input table to its subscript, • ρemployee(Emp) • Changes the name of Emp table to employee

Rename Operator Example ρEmployeeName / Name(Employee) Employee

Union Operator • The union operation is denoted U as in set theory. It returns the union (set union) of two compatible relations. • For a union operation r U s to be legal, we require that, r and s must have the same number of attributes. The domains of the corresponding attributes must be the same. • As in all set operations, duplicates are eliminated.

Union Operator Example Professor Student Student U Professor

Intersection Operator • Denoted as  . For relations R and S, intersection is R  S. • Defines a relation consisting of the set of all tuples that are in both R and S. • R and S must be union-compatible. • Expressed using basic operations: R  S = R – (R – S)

Intersection Operator Example Professor Student Student  Professor

Set Difference Operator • For relations R and S, Set difference R - S, defines a relation consisting of the tuples that are in relation R, but not in S. Set difference S – R, defines a relation consisting of the tuples that are in relation S, but not in R.

Set Difference Operator Example Professor Student Professor - Student Student - Professor

Division Operator • The division operator takes as input two relations, called the dividend relation (r on scheme R) and the divisor relation (s on scheme S) such that all the attributes in S also appear in R and S is not empty. The output of the division operation is a relation on scheme R with all the attributes common with S.

Division Operator Example Completed DBProject Completed / DBProject

Natural Join Operator Natural join is a dyadic operator that is written as R lXl S where R and S are relations. The result of the natural join is the set of all combinations of tuples in R and S that are equal on their common attribute names.

Natural Join Example For an example, consider the tables Employee and Dept and their natural join: Employee Employee lXl Dept Dept

Semijoin Operator The semijoin is joining similar to the natural join and written as R⋉ S where R and S are relations. The result of the semijoin is only the set of all tuples in R for which there is a tuple in S that is equal on their common attribute names.

Semijoin Example For an example consider the tables Employee and Dept and their semi join: Employee Employee ⋉ Dept Dept

Outerjoin Operator Left outer join The left outer join is written as R =X S where R and S are relations. The result of the left outer join is the set of all combinations of tuples in R and S that are equal on their common attribute names, in addition to tuples in R that have no matching tuples in S. Right outer join The right outer join is written as R X= S where R and S are relations. The result of the right outer join is the set of all combinations of tuples in R and S that are equal on their common attribute names, in addition to tuples in S that have no matching tuples in R.

Left Outerjoin Example For an example consider the tables Employee and Dept and their left outer join: Employee Employee =X Dept Dept

Right Outerjoin Example For an example consider the tables Employee and Dept and their right outer join: Employee Employee X= Dept Dept

Full Outer join Example The outer join or full outer join in effect combines the results of the left and right outer joins. For an example consider the tables Employee and Dept and their full outer join: Employee Employee =X= Dept Dept

References • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relational_algebra#Outer_join • http://www.cs.sjsu.edu/faculty/lee/cs157/cs157alecturenotes.htm • Database System Concepts, 5th edition, Silberschatz, Korth, Sudarshan

Relational Algebra