What Is a Set, Anyway?
If you were a teenager any time from the mid-1960s onward, you might have studied set theory in a mathematics course. (Remember New Math?) If you were introduced to set algebra, you probably wondered why any of it would ever be useful.
Now you’re trying to learn about relational databases and this quirky language called SQL to build applications, solve problems, or just get answers to your questions. Were you paying attention in algebra class? If so, solving problems—particularly complex ones—in SQL will be much easier.
Actually, you’ve been working with sets from the beginning of this book. In Chapter 1, What Is Relational?, you learned about the basic structure of a relational database—tables containing records that ...
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