Relational Algebra P

Relational database systems are expected to be equipped with a query
language that can assist its users to query the database instances. There
are two kinds of query languages − relational algebra and relational
calculus.
Relational Algebra
Relational algebra is a procedural query language, which takes instances of
relations as input and yields instances of relations as output. It uses
operators to perform queries. An operator can be either unary or binary.
They accept relations as their input and yield relations as their output.
Relational algebra is performed recursively on a relation and intermediate
results are also considered relations.
The fundamental operations of relational algebra are as follows −
 Select
 Project
 Union
 Set different
 Cartesian product
 Rename
We will discuss all these operations in the following sections.
Select Operation (σ)

It selects tuples that satisfy the given predicate from a relation.
Notation − σp(r)
Where σ stands for selection predicate and r stands for relation. p is

prepositional logic formula which may use connectors like and, or, and not.
These terms may use relational operators like − =, ≠, ≥, < , >, ≤.
For example −
σsubject (Books)
= "database"
Output − Selects tuples from books where subject is 'database'.
σsubject = "database" and price = "450"(Books)
Output − Selects tuples from books where subject is 'database' and 'price'
is 450.
σsubject (Books)
= "database" and price = "450" or year > "2010"
Output − Selects tuples from books where subject is 'database' and 'price'
is 450 or those books published after 2010.
Project Operation (∏)

It projects column(s) that satisfy a given predicate.
Notation − ∏A1, A2, An (r)
Where A1, A2 , An are attribute names of relation r.
Duplicate rows are automatically eliminated, as relation is a set.
For example −
∏subject, author (Books)
Selects and projects columns named as subject and author from the
relation Books.
Union Operation (∪)

It performs binary union between two given relations and is defined as −
r ∪ s = { t | t ∈ r or t ∈ s}
Notation − r U s
Where r and s are either database relations or relation result set

(temporary relation).
For a union operation to be valid, the following conditions must hold −
 r, and s must have the same number of attributes.

 Attribute domains must be compatible.
 Duplicate tuples are automatically eliminated.
∏ author (Books) ∪ ∏ author (Articles)
Output − Projects the names of the authors who have either written a book
or an article or both.
Set Difference (−)

The result of set difference operation is tuples, which are present in one
relation but are not in the second relation.
Notation − r − s
Finds all the tuples that are present in r but not in s.
∏ author (Books) − ∏ author (Articles)
Output − Provides the name of authors who have written books but not
articles.
Cartesian Product (Χ)

Combines information of two different relations into one.
Notation − r Χ s
Where r and s are relations and their output will be defined as −
r Χ s = { q t | q ∈ r and t ∈ s}
σauthor (Books Χ Articles)

= 'tutorialspoint'
Output − Yields a relation, which shows all the books and articles written
by tutorialspoint.
Rename Operation (ρ)

The results of relational algebra are also relations but without any name.
The rename operation allows us to rename the output relation. 'rename'
operation is denoted with small Greek letter rho ρ.
Notation − ρ x (E)
Where the result of expression E is saved with name of x.
Additional operations are −
 Set intersection
 Assignment
 Natural join
We understand the benefits of taking a Cartesian product of two relations,

which gives us all the possible tuples that are paired together. But it might
not be feasible for us in certain cases to take a Cartesian product where we
encounter huge relations with thousands of tuples having a considerable
large number of attributes.
Join is a combination of a Cartesian product followed by a selection

process. A Join operation pairs two tuples from different relations, if and
only if a given join condition is satisfied.
We will briefly describe various join types in the following sections.
Theta (θ) Join

Theta join combines tuples from different relations provided they satisfy the
theta condition. The join condition is denoted by the symbol θ.
Notation
R1 ⋈θ R2
R1 and R2 are relations having attributes (A1, A2, .., An) and (B1, B2,..
,Bn) such that the attributes don’t have anything in common, that is R1 ∩
R2 = Φ.
Theta join can use all kinds of comparison operators.
Student
SID Name Std
101 Alex 10
102 Maria 11
Subjects
Class Subject
10 Math
10 English
11 Music
11 Sports
Student_Detail −
STUDENT ⋈Student.Std = Subject.Class SUBJECT
Student_detail
SID Name Std Class Subject
101 Alex 10 10 Math
101 Alex 10 10 English
102 Maria 11 11 Music

102 Maria 11 11 Sports
Equijoin
When Theta join uses only equality comparison operator, it is said to be
equijoin. The above example corresponds to equijoin.
Natural Join ( ⋈)
Natural join does not use any comparison operator. It does not concatenate
the way a Cartesian product does. We can perform a Natural Join only if
there is at least one common attribute that exists between two relations. In
addition, the attributes must have the same name and domain.
Natural join acts on those matching attributes where the values of

attributes in both the relations are same.
Courses
CID Course Dept
CS01 Database CS
ME01 Mechanics ME
EE01 Electronics EE
HoD
Dept Head
CS Alex
ME Maya
EE Mira
Courses ⋈ HoD
Dept CID Course Head
CS CS01 Database Alex
ME ME01 Mechanics Maya
EE EE01 Electronics Mira
Outer Joins
Theta Join, Equijoin, and Natural Join are called inner joins. An inner join
includes only those tuples with matching attributes and the rest are
discarded in the resulting relation. Therefore, we need to use outer joins to
include all the tuples from the participating relations in the resulting
relation. There are three kinds of outer joins − left outer join, right outer
join, and full outer join.
Left Outer Join(R S)

All the tuples from the Left relation, R, are included in the resulting relation.
If there are tuples in R without any matching tuple in the Right relation S,
then the S-attributes of the resulting relation are made NULL.
Left
A B
100 Database
101 Mechanics
102 Electronics
Right
A B
100 Alex
102 Maya
104 Mira
Courses HoD
A B C D
100 Database 100 Alex
101 Mechanics --- ---
102 Electronics 102 Maya
Right Outer Join: ( R S )

All the tuples from the Right relation, S, are included in the resulting
relation. If there are tuples in S without any matching tuple in R, then the
R-attributes of resulting relation are made NULL.
Courses HoD
A B C D
--- --- 104 Mira
Full Outer Join: ( R S)

All the tuples from both participating relations are included in the resulting
relation. If there are no matching tuples for both relations, their respective
unmatched attributes are made NULL.
Courses HoD
A B C D
101 Mechanics --- ---
--- --- 104 Mira

Relational Algebra P

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Relational database systems are expected to be equipped with a query

The fundamental operations of relational algebra are as follows −

We will discuss all these operations in the following sections.

Select Operation (σ)

Where σ stands for selection predicate and r stands for relation. p is

σsubject = "database" and price = "450"(Books)

Project Operation (∏)

Notation − ∏A1, A2, An (r)

Where A1, A2 , An are attribute names of relation r.

Duplicate rows are automatically eliminated, as relation is a set.

∏subject, author (Books)

Union Operation (∪)

Where r and s are either database relations or relation result set

For a union operation to be valid, the following conditions must hold −

 r, and s must have the same number of attributes.

 Duplicate tuples are automatically eliminated.

∏ author (Books) ∪ ∏ author (Articles)

Set Difference (−)

∏ author (Books) − ∏ author (Articles)

Cartesian Product (Χ)

Where r and s are relations and their output will be defined as −

σauthor (Books Χ Articles)

Rename Operation (ρ)

Where the result of expression E is saved with name of x.

Additional operations are −

We understand the benefits of taking a Cartesian product of two relations,

Join is a combination of a Cartesian product followed by a selection

We will briefly describe various join types in the following sections.

Theta (θ) Join

Theta join can use all kinds of comparison operators.

STUDENT ⋈Student.Std = Subject.Class SUBJECT

SID Name Std Class Subject

101 Alex 10 10 Math

101 Alex 10 10 English

102 Maria 11 11 Music

Natural join acts on those matching attributes where the values of

CID Course Dept

Dept CID Course Head

CS CS01 Database Alex

ME ME01 Mechanics Maya

EE EE01 Electronics Mira

Left Outer Join(R S)

100 Database 100 Alex

101 Mechanics --- ---

102 Electronics 102 Maya

Right Outer Join: ( R S )

100 Database 100 Alex

102 Electronics 102 Maya

--- --- 104 Mira

Full Outer Join: ( R S)

100 Database 100 Alex

101 Mechanics --- ---

102 Electronics 102 Maya

--- --- 104 Mira

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