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@inproceedings{DBLP:conf/vldb/CavalloP87,
author = {Roger Cavallo and
Michael Pittarelli},
editor = {Peter M. Stocker and
William Kent and
Peter Hammersley},
title = {The Theory of Probabilistic Databases},
booktitle = {VLDB'87, Proceedings of 13th International Conference on Very
Large Data Bases, September 1-4, 1987, Brighton, England},
publisher = {Morgan Kaufmann},
year = {1987},
isbn = {0-934613-46-X},
pages = {71-81},
ee = {db/conf/vldb/CavalloP87.html},
crossref = {DBLP:conf/vldb/87},
bibsource = {DBLP, http://dblp.uni-trier.de}
}
A theory of probabilistic databases is outlined. This theory is one component of an integrated approach to data-modelling that accomodates both probabilistic and relational data. In fact, many of the results presented here were developed in the context of a framework for structural modelling of systems. Much that is fundamental to relational database theory was also developed in this context, and previous to the introduction by Codd of the relational model ofdata.
Probabilistic databases can store types of information that cannot be represented using the relational model. Probabilistic databases may also be viewed as generalisations of relational databases; any relational database can be represented without loss of information by a probabilistic database. A number of relational database concepts are shown to have probabilistic counterparts. In many cases, it is preferable to deal with the probabilistic formulation of a concept even when applying it to a relational database. For example, we define a new project-join mapping for relational databases that is based on transforming a relational to a probabilistic database. This mapping is shown to have more fixed points than the standard one.
Copyright © 1987 by the VLDB Endowment. Permission to copy without fee all or part of this material is granted provided that the copies are not made or distributed for direct commercial advantage, the VLDB copyright notice and the title of the publication and its date appear, and notice is given that copying is by the permission of the Very Large Data Base Endowment. To copy otherwise, or to republish, requires a fee and/or special permission from the Endowment.
