Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Relational Algebra

  • Reference work entry
Encyclopedia of Database Systems

  • 293 Accesses

Definition

The operators of the relational algebra were already described in Codd’s pioneering paper [2]. In [3] he introduced the term relational algebra and showed its equivalence with the tuple relational calculus.

This entry details the definition of the relational algebra in the unnamed perspective [1], with selection, projection, cartesian product, union and difference operators. It also describes some operators of the named perspective [1] such as join.

The flagship property of the relational algebra is that it is equivalent to the (undecidable!) set of domain independent relational calculus queries thus providing a standard for relational completeness.

Key Points

Fix a countably infinite set ⅅ of constants over which Σ-instances are defined for a relational schema Σ.

The relational algebra is a many-sorted algebra, where the sorts are the natural numbers. The idea is that the elements of sort n are finite n-ary relations. The carrier of sort nof the algebra is the set of...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 2,500.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Recommended Reading

  1. Abiteboul S., Hull R., and Vianu V. Foundations of Databases: The Logical Level. Addison Wesley, Reading, MA, 1994.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Codd E.F. A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks. Commun. ACM, 13(6):377–387, 1970.

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  3. Codd E.F. Relational completeness of database sublanguages, In Courant Computer Science Symposium 6: Data Base Systems, R. Rustin (ed.). Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1972,pp. 65–98.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Ramakrishnan R. and Gehrke J. Database Management Systems, 3rd edn. McGraw-Hill, New York, 2003.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Val Tannen

Authors
  1. Val Tannen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. College of Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology, 266 Ferst Drive, 30332-0765, Atlanta, GA, USA

    LING LIU (Professor) (Professor)

  2. Database Research Group David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, N2L 3G1, Waterloo, ON, Canada

    M. TAMER ÖZSU (Professor and Director, University Research Chair) (Professor and Director, University Research Chair)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2009 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

About this entry

Cite this entry

Tannen, V. (2009). Relational Algebra. In: LIU, L., ÖZSU, M.T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Database Systems. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-39940-9_967

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation