With regard to the expressive power of the formal relational query lan...
A query can be formulated in relational calculus if and only if it can be formulated in relational algebra. So, relational algebra has the same power as relational calculus.
But, it is possible to write syntactically correct relational calculus queries that have infinite number of answers. Such queries are unsafe. Queries that have an finite number of answers are safe relational calculus queries.
Thus, Relational algebra has the same power as safe relational calculus.
Thus, option (C) is the answer.
Please comment below if you find anything wrong in the above post.
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With regard to the expressive power of the formal relational query lan...
Statement: Relational algebra has the same power as safe relational calculus.
Explanation:
To understand the expressive power of the formal relational query languages, let's first define what each of these languages is:
1. Relational Algebra:
Relational algebra is a procedural query language used to query relational databases. It consists of a set of operations that manipulate relations to produce desired results. The operations in relational algebra include selection, projection, union, set difference, Cartesian product, join, and division.
2. Relational Calculus:
Relational calculus is a non-procedural query language used to query relational databases. It specifies what data to retrieve from the database without specifying how to retrieve it. There are two types of relational calculus: tuple relational calculus (TRC) and domain relational calculus (DRC).
Now, let's analyze the given statements:
a) Relational algebra is more powerful than relational calculus:
This statement is false. Relational algebra and relational calculus are two different query languages with different approaches. Neither is more powerful than the other in terms of expressive power.
b) Relational algebra has the same power as relational calculus:
This statement is false. Relational algebra and relational calculus have different expressive powers. Relational calculus can express more complex queries, including existential and universal quantifiers, which cannot be expressed in relational algebra.
c) Relational algebra has the same power as safe relational calculus:
This statement is true. Safe relational calculus is a subset of relational calculus that excludes certain unsafe operations such as division and difference. Relational algebra and safe relational calculus have the same expressive power, meaning that any query expressible in one language can be expressed in the other.
d) None of the above:
This statement is false. As explained above, statement c is true, which means that none of the other statements are true.
In conclusion, the correct answer is option c) "Relational algebra has the same power as safe relational calculus." This means that relational algebra and safe relational calculus have the same expressive power, while relational calculus (including unsafe operations) can express more complex queries.
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