1.  Relational Data Models Matt Dube – Doctoral Student, Spatial Information Science and Engineering

2. Scenario  Consider you are running a business. You are in the realms of marketing, advertising, and customer service. Since you are running the business, your time is stretched so thin based on the economic conditions…  In regards to an information system, what qualities do you need to make your marketing and advertising operations more efficient?

3. What do I need and not need?  NEEDS:  Quick means for identification  Customer service  Required account data  Billing information  Differentiation  Strategic advertising  Information reduction  Only certain data important  Integrative  Larger scale company interaction  Purchase history  Who bought what?  TO AVOID:  Duplication  Resource allocation  Excessive table attributes  Difficulty in usage

4. Relational Data Model  OMG!  That is a lot to worry about.  Thankfully, these things have already been designed

5. Relational Databases  Definition of relation  Relations are tables that express data linkages  A set of operations on those relations  How to extract certain pieces from the relation  An algebra of relational operations  Most efficient ways to go about getting a particular result

6. Relations  Since relations are tables, they have rows and columns  Each relation has a unique name  Each column represents an attribute about an entity  Each row represents a tuple of attributes linked to a particular entity

7. Domain  Recall from mathematics what the domain is:  f(x) = y for x in X  X is the domain of the function  Domain is the set of possible values for a function  Domain in terms of a relational database is thus the relevant values to choose from for a particular attribute  Every attribute must have a domain, and that domain may differ for every attribute

8. Example Domains  Let’s figure out the following relevant domains:  United States  Alphabet  MaineStreet Student ID Numbers  GPA  Baseball Positions  Land Use Types  Square Root of X  Message: every single idea you can conceive of has a set domain

9. Domains vs. Types  Domain is the set of values that are permissible  Phone Numbers are ten digit numbers  Domains need not be unique to an attribute  Daytime Phone Numbers  Evening Phone Numbers  Type is the classification of an attribute  Number, String, Floating Point, etc.  Difference between these?

10.  A relation R is a subset of the Cartesian product of all of its n attribute domains D i  Cartesian product: think of the plane  A relation is a subset of D 1 X D 2 X … X D n-1 X D n Mathematical Definition of a Relation

11. The Set of Tuples  Recall that each row in a table is called a tuple  Since a relation is a table, it is a set of tuples  Important properties of tuples  All tuples are distinct  Order of tuples is not important, but can be imposed  Why are those properties important? Think in your disciplines…

12. Red Sox Outfielders Relation OutfielderOBPHRRBISB Bay.3843611913 Ellsbury.35586070 Drew.39224682 Baldelli.3117231 Anderson.3284183 Gathright.353001 Reddick.210240 Van Every.462130 Carter.000010

13. Proof of Keys  Since all the tuples must be unique, there must be a unique identifier  Proof:  Select an arbitrary tuple A and a second arbitrary tuple B. Since each tuple is unique, there exists an attribute k such that A(k) ≠ B(k). Since A and B are arbitrary, all possible combinations of tuples are accounted for. Thus there exists a unique identifier (namely the whole tuple) to identify arbitrary A from arbitrary B.

14. Keys (continued)  A key suggests there is a smaller way to query the relation to get the desired tuple  What conditions do we want for keys?  Small (fewest attributes possible)  Relevant (sensible for the relation’s purpose)  Multiple keys might exist

15. Candidate Keys? OutfielderOBPHRRBISB Bay.3843611913 Ellsbury.35586070 Drew.39224682 Baldelli.3117231 Anderson.3284183 Gathright.353001 Reddick.210240 Van Every.462130 Carter.000010

16. Three Types of Keys  Candidate Key  A set of attributes known to be unique in the relation  Primary Key  Designer’s choice of the attribute identifier for its tuples  Composite Key  A key which involves more than one attribute

17. Constraints for Relations  Attribute names are unique  What if they weren’t?  Domain values must be atomic  Think terminal symbols  What if they weren’t?  Every relation must have at least one key  We already proved that

18. Wednesday  Relevant operators for relations  Constructing a relation out of code  HOMEWORK: Think of an example in your discipline where a relational data model could help. What attributes are important? What are their domains? What would you use to key the model? Why?  Bring to class on Wednesday to discuss (not collected)