Statistical Relational Tables for Statistical Database Management

Abstract

This paper extends Codd's relational view to represent statistical data and to achieve the efficient analysis of statistical data. It discusses why the relational calculus has not been popular with statisticians. A new view called a statistical relational table is presented, to meet the needs of the statisticians. Some of Codd's relational operators are extended to the statistical relational tables. New operators, based on the statistical relational tables, are introduced for communicating requests for statistical analysis. A new query language, called the query-by-statistical-relational-table (which has some similarities with query-by-example), is introduced. Extensions of SQL language for processing the commands of the new query language are also discussed. Creation and storage of metadata for fast statistical analysis are considered. Some problems related to privacy in statistical databases are also examined. © 1986 IEEE