离散数学英文讲义：7-2 n-ary Relations and Their Application.pptVIP

§7.2: n-ary Relations An n-ary relation R on sets A1,…,An, is a subset R ? A1× … × An. This is a straightforward generalisation of a binary relation. For example: 3-ary relations: a is between b and c; a gave b to c §7.2: n-ary Relations An n-ary relation R on sets A1,…,An, is a subset R ? A1× … × An. The sets Ai are called the domains of R. The degree of R is n. R is functional in the domain Ai if it contains at most one n-tuple (…, ai ,…) for any value ai within domain Ai. §7.2: n-ary Relations R is functional in the domain Ai if it contains at most one n-tuple (…, ai ,…) for any value ai within domain Ai. Generalisation: being functional in a combination of two or more domains. Relational Databases A relational database is essentially just a set of relations. A domain Ai is a primary key for the database if the relation R is functional in Ai. A composite key for the database is a set of domains {Ai, Aj, …} such that R contains at most 1 n-tuple (…,ai,…,aj,…) for each composite value (ai, aj,…)?Ai×Aj×… Example of Relational Data Model (Student Name, ID Number, Major, GPA) (Ackermann, 231455, Computer Science, 3.88) (Adams, 888323, Physics, 3.45) (Chou, 102147, Computer Science, 3.49) (Rao, 678543, Mathematics, 3.90) (Stevens, 786576, Psychology, 2.99) Primary key is ID Number. (Selection Operators) Let A be any n-ary domain A=A1×…×An, and let C:A→{T,F} be any condition (predicate) on elements (n-tuples) of A. Then, the selection operator sC is the operator that maps any n-ary relation R on A to the n-ary relation consisting of all n-tuples from R that satisfy C. That is, sC(R) = {a?R | C(a) = T} (Selection Operator Example) Suppose we have a domain A = StudentName × Standing × SocSecNos Suppose we define a condition Upperlevel on A: UpperLevel(name,standing,ssn) :≡  [(standing = junior) ? (standing = senior)] Then, sUpperLevel is the selection operator that takes any relation R on A (database of students) and produces a relation consisting