Assumptions in Relational Database Theory

Summary: Critiques standard relational-theory assumptions (universal relation, lossless join, FD inference, decomposition, acyclic JDs), showing they can be stronger or inappropriate for real-world schemas. Gives counterexamples (e.g., FD transitivity can fail) and urges re-evaluation. (summarized by gpt-5-mini on Feb 09 2026)

Paper ID: 602
Venue: PODS
Year: 1982
Pagerank: 0.00010460647
Overall Rank: 1,537 | 89.46%
DOI: 10.1145/588111.588113

Incoming Non-self Citations Over Time

Authors

1. Paolo Atzeni (University of Rome)
2. D. Stott Parker, Jr. (University of California Los Angeles)

BibTeX Citation

@inproceedings{atzeni_pods82,
        address = {New York, NY, USA},
        series = {{PODS} '82},
        title = {{Assumptions in Relational Database Theory}},
        url = {https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/588111.588113},
        doi = {10.1145/588111.588113},
        booktitle = {Proceedings of the {ACM} {SIGMOD} Symposium on {Principles} of {Database} {Systems}},
        publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},
        author = {Atzeni, Paolo and D. Stott Parker, Jr.},
        year = {1982}
}

Incoming Citations (Sorted by Pagerank)

Showing 13 of 13 citing papers.

Rank	Citing Paper	Year	Venue	Pagerank
1,566	The Use of Information Capacity in Schema Integration and Translation	1993	VLDB	0.00010346227
3,437	Reflections on Boyce-Codd Normal Form	1982	VLDB	7.4157489e-05
3,443	LAURA: A Formal Data Model and Her Logical Design Methodology	1983	VLDB	7.4116889e-05
3,551	Efficient Query Answering in the Representative Instance Approach	1985	PODS	7.3196924e-05
3,884	Inclusion Dependencies and the Universal Instance	1983	PODS	7.0480285e-05
4,259	Database Decomposition into Fourth Normal Form	1983	VLDB	6.798826e-05
5,033	Universal Relation Views: A Pragmatic Approach	1983	VLDB	6.3934244e-05
5,069	Query Processing For Distributed Databases Using Generalized Semi-Joins	1982	SIGMOD	6.3768665e-05
5,108	On the Correctness of Representing Extended Entity-Relationship Structures in the Relational Model	1989	SIGMOD	6.3622648e-05
8,500	Answering Queries In Relational Databases	1983	SIGMOD	5.4133072e-05
9,098	ONE FLAVOR ASSUMPTION AND gamma-ACYCLICITY FOR UNIVERSAL RELATION VIEWS	1986	PODS	5.3251649e-05
13,172	DYNAMIC QUERY INTERPRETATION IN RELATIONAL DATABASES (Extended abstract)	1987	PODS	5.093636e-05
13,193	On the Properties and Characterisation of Connection-trap-free Schemes (Extended Abstract)	1986	PODS	5.093636e-05

Outgoing Citations (Sorted by Pagerank)

Showing 4 of 4 cited papers.

Citations counted here include only citations to other VLDB/SIGMOD/CIDR/PODS papers in this database.

Rank	Cited Paper	Year	Venue	Pagerank
266	Can We Use The Universal Instance Assumption Without Using Nulls?	1981	SIGMOD	0.00022823892
1,111	The U. R. Strikes Back	1982	PODS	0.00012131168
1,929	A Generalized Access Path Model And Its Application To A Relational Data Base System	1976	SIGMOD	9.4676007e-05
2,422	Normal forms and relational database operators	1979	SIGMOD	8.6023273e-05

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7	495	A Complete Axiomatization For Functional And Multivalued Dependencies In Database Relations	1977	SIGMOD
8	3,222	Comprehensive Approach to the Design of Relational Database Schemes	1984	VLDB
9	13,233	On Lossless Transformation of Database Schemes Not Necessarily Satisfying Universal Instance Assumption (preliminary version)	1984	PODS
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