Title :
On representing indefinite and maybe information in relational databases
Author :
Liu, Ken-Chih ; Sunderraman, Rajshekhar
Author_Institution :
Dept of Comput. Sci., Iowa State Univ., Ames, IA, USA
Abstract :
An extension is presented of the relational model to present indefinite and maybe kinds of incomplete information. A data structure, called an I-table, is introduced, which is capable of representing indefinite and maybe facts. The information content of the I-table is defined and an operator to remove redundant facts is presented. The relational algebra is then extended, in a semantically correct way, to operate on I-tables. Queries are posed in the same way as in conventional relational algebra, but the user may expect indefinite as well as maybe answers
Keywords :
data structures; database theory; relational databases; I-table; data structure; incomplete information; indefinite answers; indefinite facts; indefinite information; information content; maybe answers; maybe facts; maybe information; operator; redundant facts; relational algebra; relational databases; Algebra; Computer science; Data structures; Deductive databases; Relational databases;
Conference_Titel :
Data Engineering, 1988. Proceedings. Fourth International Conference on
Conference_Location :
Los Angeles, CA
Print_ISBN :
0-8186-0827-7
DOI :
10.1109/ICDE.1988.105467
