Chapter 6

The Relational Algebra and Relational Calculus

Multiple-Choice Questions:
1) ______ symbol is used to denote the SELECT operation.
a) X b) σ c) ρ d) π

2) ______ symbol is used to denote the PROJECT operation.

a) X b) σ c) ρ d) π

3) ______ symbol is used to denote the RENAME operation.

a) ∞ b) σ c) ρ d) π

4) _______ operation can be visualized as a horizontal partition of the relation into two set of tuples.
a) JOIN b) PARTITION c) SELECT d) PROJECT

5) _______ operation can be visualized as a vertical partition of the relation into two relations.
a) PROJECT b) PARTITION c) SELECT d) JOIN

6) ________ is not a comparison operator.

a) * b) = c) ≤ d) ≠

7) _______ is a Boolean operator.

a) AND b) OR c) NOT d) all of these

8) _______ operator is unary.

a) SELECT b) INTERSECTION c) UNION d) JOIN

9) _______ operator is binary.

a) SELECT b) PROJECT c) UNION d) RENAME

10) The degree of the relation resulting from SELECT operation is ______ the degree of the
participating relation.
a) less than or equal to b) equal to c) less than d) more than

11) The basic set of operations for the relational model is the relational _______.
a) statement b) algebra c) geometry d) definition
12) The relational algebra operations enable a user to specify basic _______ requests.
a) construct b) modification c) retrieval d) entry

13) The degree of the relation resulting from PROJECT operation is ______ to the number of
attributes in the attribute-list specified.
a) less than or equal to b) equal to c) less than d) more than

14) Two relations are said to be _____ if they have the same degree n and if dom (Ai) = dom (Bi)
for 1≤ i ≤ n.
a) degree compatible b) union compatible c) domain compatible d) similar

15) Two relations are said to be union compatible if they have same number of ______
a) attributes b) tuples c) key attributes d) foreign keys

16) The result of _____ operation is a relation that includes all tuples that are in both R and S relations.
a) JOIN b) MINUS c) UNION d) INTERSECTION

17) R ∩ ( S ∩ T ) ______ ( R ∩ S ) ∩ T .
a) ≈ b) ≠ c) = d) <

18) _______ do not have to be union compatible.

a) ∩ b) U c) X d) –

19) _______ symbol is used to denote the CROSS PRODUCT operation.

a) X b) σ c) ρ d) π

20) The ______ operation is used instead of using the sequence of CARTESIAN PRODUCT
followed by SELECT.
a) PROJECT b) MINUS c) JOIN d) UNION

21) The result of R (A1, A2 , …, An ) X S (B1, B2 , …, Bm ) is a relation with _____ attributes.

a) n + m b) n – m c) n * m d) m – n

22) If R has x tuples and S has y tuples, then R X S will have ______ tuples.
a) x + y b) x * y c) x – y d) y – x
23) ______ operation allows us to process relationships among relations.
a) PROJECT b) MINUS c) JOIN d) UNION

24) _______ symbol is used to denote the JOIN operation.

a) X b) σ c) d) π

25) ______ operation combines related tuples from two relations into single tuples.
a) JOIN b) MINUS c) PROJECT d) UNION

26) A join where the only comparison operator used is = is called an ________.
a) NATURAL JOIN b) SAME JOIN c) EQUI JOIN d) THETA JOIN

27) NATURAL JOIN operation is denoted by _______.

a) U b) = c) X d) *

28) _____ operation is used to remove the second superfluous attribute in an EQUIJOIN condition.
a) NATURAL JOIN b) SAME JOIN c) DELETE JOIN d) THETA JOIN

29) The DIVISION operation is applied on two relations R (Z) ÷ S (X), where X ______ Z.
a) = b) ≤ c) X d)

30) _____ operation can be expressed as a sequence of π, x, and – operations.

a) DIVISION b) UNION c) JOIN d) CARTESIAN PRODUCT

31) R _____ S ≡ ( R U S ) – ( ( R – S ) U ( S – R ) )
a) U b) ∩ c) X d) π

32) If relation R has n attributes and relation S has m attributes, then the result of JOIN on relations R
and S will have ______ attributes.
a) n X m b) n / m c) n – m d) n + m

33) If relation R has n attributes and relation S has m attributes, then the result of JOIN on relations R
and S will have upto ______ tuples.
a) n * m b) n / m c) n + m d) n – m

34) The JOIN operation where only matching tuples are kept in the result are called _____ joins.
a) outer b) external c) inner d) related
35) The JOIN operation where we keep all the tuples in relation R, or all those in relation S,
or all those in both relations regardless of whether or not they have matching tuples is called
_____ join.
a) outer b) external c) inner d) related

36) ______ is not an aggregate function.

a) COUNT b) JOIN c) SUM d) AVERAGE

37) The aggregate function operation is denoted by the _____ symbol.

a) ρ b) π c) d) σ

TRUE or FALSE:

1. The SELECT operation selects certain rows from the table. (T/F)
2. The PROJECT operation selects certain columns from the table. (T/F)
3. ‘>’ comparison operator can be used with unordered values. (T/F)
4. The domain of date are unordered values. (T/F)
5. The relation resulting from SELECT operation has same attributes as original relation. (T/F)

6. The PROJECT operation can be applied to more than one relation. (T/F)
7. A sequence of SELECTs can be applied in any order. (T/F)
8. A sequence of SELECT operations can be combined into single SELECT operation
with a AND condition. (T/F)
9. σ <cond1> (σ <cond2> (R) ) ≠ σ <cond2> (σ <cond1> (R) ). (T/F)
10. The number of tuples in resulting relation from SELECT operation is always more than
or equal to number of tuples in participating relation. (T/F)

11. The PROJECT operation does not remove duplicate tuples. (T/F)
12. The number of tuples in resulting relation from PROJECT operation is always less than
or equal to number of tuples in participating relation. (T/F)
13. The relation resulting from PROJECT operation has the attributes as specified
in the attribute-list in the same order as they appear in the list. (T/F)
14. The PROJECT operation satisfies the commutative property. (T/F)
15. The RENAME operation can rename either the relation name or the attributes names
or both. (T/F)
16. INTERSECTION operation must be union compatible. (T/F)
17. Union compatible relations must have different type of tuples. (T/F)
18. The degree of union compatible relations must be same. (T/F)
19. In UNION operation duplicate tuples are eliminated. (T/F)
20. INTERSECTION operation is not commutative. (T/F)

21. If R and S are two relations then R – S ≠ S – R. (T/F)

22. UNION operation is associative. (T/F)
23. R – S is a relation that includes all tuples that are in S but not in R. (T/F)
24. The CARTESIAN PRODUCT creates tuples with the combined attributes of
two relations. (T/F)
25. In NATURAL JOIN the two join attributes have the same name in both relations. (T/F)

26. The result of applying an aggregate function is a scalar number. (T/F)

27. The duplicates are eliminated when an aggregate function is applied. (T/F)
28. The relational algebra is a closed system. (T/F)
29. The duplicate tuples are eliminated when UNION is applied. (T/F)
30. Tuples whose join attributes are null also appear in the result. (T/F)