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: 603
Venue: PODS
Year: 1982
Pagerank: 0.00014366096
Overall Rank: 1,062 | 92.62%
DOI: -

Incoming Non-self Citations Over Time

Authors

1. Paolo Atzeni
2. D. Stott Parker, Jr.

Incoming Citations (Sorted by Pagerank)

Showing 13 of 13 citing papers.

Rank	Citing Paper	Year	Venue	Pagerank
1,301	The Use of Information Capacity in Schema Integration and Translation	1993	VLDB	0.00012706678
2,318	Efficient Query Answering in the Representative Instance Approach	1985	PODS	9.0400919e-05
2,481	LAURA: A Formal Data Model and her Logical Design Methodology	1983	VLDB	8.6870033e-05
3,090	Database Decomposition Into Fourth Normal Form	1983	VLDB	7.582872e-05
3,111	Reflections on Boyce-Codd Normal Form	1982	VLDB	7.5474137e-05
3,612	On the Correctness of Representing Extended Entity-Relationship Structures in the Relational Model	1989	SIGMOD	6.918674e-05
3,877	Inclusion Dependencies and the Universal Instance	1983	PODS	6.6739427e-05
4,928	Universal Relation Views: A Pragmatic Approach	1983	VLDB	5.8222523e-05
5,036	Query Processing For Distributed Databases Using Generalized Semi-Joins	1982	SIGMOD	5.745922e-05
8,216	Answering Queries In Relational Databases	1983	SIGMOD	4.5575596e-05
8,942	ONE FLAVOR ASSUMPTION AND gamma-ACYCLICITY FOR UNIVERSAL RELATION VIEWS	1986	PODS	4.427232e-05
12,974	DYNAMIC QUERY INTERPRETATION IN RELATIONAL DATABASES (Extended abstract)	1987	PODS	4.1945683e-05
12,995	On the Properties and Characterisation of Connection-trap-free Schemes (Extended Abstract)	1986	PODS	4.1945683e-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
135	Can We Use The Universal Instance Assumption Without Using Nulls?	1981	SIGMOD	0.00042421957
920	The U. R. Strikes Back	1982	PODS	0.00015338004
1,224	A Generalized Access Path Model And Its Application To A Relational Data Base System	1976	SIGMOD	0.00013194206
1,884	Normal forms and relational database operators	1979	SIGMOD	0.00010215563

Semantically Similar Papers

Overall Rank	Paper	Year	Venue	Pagerank
13,051	Algebraic Aspects of Relational Database Decomposition (Extended Abstract)	1983	PODS	4.1945683e-05
13,009	Relaxing the Universal Relation Scheme Assumption	1985	PODS	4.1945683e-05
13,059	A Theory Of Data Dependencies Over Relational Expressions	1982	PODS	4.1945683e-05
9,119	Unifying Functional and Multivalued Dependencies for Relational Database Design	1986	PODS	4.3927483e-05
12,950	Decomposition of Relational Schemata into Components Defined by Both Projection and Restriction	1988	PODS	4.1945683e-05
458	Independent Database Schemas (Extended Abstract)	1982	PODS	0.00022657396
170	A Complete Axiomatization For Functional And Multivalued Dependencies In Database Relations	1977	SIGMOD	0.0003886136
3,047	Comprehensive Approach to the Design of Relational Database Schemes	1984	VLDB	7.6561027e-05
13,034	On Lossless Transformation of Database Schemes Not Necessarily Satisfying Universal Instance Assumption (preliminary version)	1984	PODS	4.1945683e-05
13,060	A Systematic Approach to Relational Database Theory	1982	SIGMOD	4.1945683e-05