Re: A Simple Notation
Date: Sat, 07 Jul 2007 15:55:03 GMT
Message-ID: <rHOji.255$qu5.189_at_trndny02>
"paul c" <toledobythesea_at_oohay.ac> wrote in message
news:skOji.94053$NV3.69985_at_pd7urf2no...
> Brian Selzer wrote:
> > "paul c" <toledobythesea_at_oohay.ac> wrote in message
> > news:PAAji.92566$xq1.59731_at_pd7urf1no...
> >
> >>Brian Selzer wrote:
> >>
> >>>"David Cressey" <cressey73_at_verizon.net> wrote in message
> >>>news:eirji.2$475.1_at_trndny04...
> >>>
> ...
> >>I wonder when, in the course of the usual human affairs as they involve
> >>the basic relational dbms op's, does it make sense to think of infinite
> >>domains? Isn't it usually sufficient, as far as algebra is concerned,
to
> >>pretend they are finite?
> >>
> >
> >
> > Why limit yourself to what can be represented in a computer? An algebra
> > that supports relations with infinite cardinality or degree can
certainly
> > support any relation that can be represented in a computer.
>
> As somebody here said (perhaps it was you, I forget), it seems important
> to separate relational operators from the rest of a language where we
> can do non-relational things, such as arithmetic addition. As far as a
> dbms that stores extensions/propositions is concerned, I don't see that
> it is possible to store infinite sets of values, so I wouldn't know how
> to implement that.
>