For AGSB M01 INFOTE Class Nov 1 2010

1. INFOTE M01
November 1, 2010

2. • “Although many of y0u will not choose a
career in the design of databases, all of you
will spend a large portion of your time –
whatever job you choose – accessing data in
a myriad of databases.” p. 170
• Accessing data from a database requires
interrogating the database.
• In this short module, we shall review the
concepts behind Boolean logic.

3. • But before we go on to a review of Boolean logic,
let us review some fundamental data concepts.
• As an example, let us use a clinic database.
• Whenever I see a patient, I gather information
regarding that patient, including his name, birth
date, sex, age, address, the referring doctor.
• I may see a patient several times, and for each
encounter, I gather information on the date of
consult, the primary problem, the diagnosis, and
the therapeutic plan.

4. • Each bit of information – e.g. last name, first
name, birth date, consult date, diagnosis, etc.
– is a field.
• Each field is a grouping of related characters.
• A character is the most basic logical data
element. For example, the field “firstname”
that contains “Robert” consists of the
characters “R”, “o”, “b”, “e”, “r”, and “t”.

5. • My clinic database thus consists of an
integrated collection of logically related data
elements.
• Within my clinic database are included the
patient file – which contains information
regarding my patients - and the consults file
– which contain information regarding my
patient consults.

6. Data Concepts Definition Example
Character A single alphabetic, numeric, or other
symbol. The most basic logical data element.
“R”
Field A grouping of related characters that
consitutes a data item and represents an
attribute of some entity.
*Entity = object, person, place, or event.
A “consult” is an example of an event.
Field: FirstName
= “Robert”
Record A grouping of all the fields pertaining to an
individual entity
Patient record 001 pertains to
patient “Robert Lee”
File A grouping of related records in tabular form
(row-and-column)
Patient File = all patients
Consult Files = all consults
Database An integrated collection of logically related
data elements
The Clinic Database contains
the patient file, the consult
file, and other files (ex. Doctor
File, Medication File,
Laboratory Results File)

7. • With a database management system in place, it would
now be possible to interrogate the database to come up
with the information I need.
• For example, let us say I wanted to come up with a list of
patients who are male & are more than 50 years old, &
have a diagnosis of diabetes or hypertension, but who do
not live in Quezon City
• I can enter a query that in effect asks the database to
– SELECT records
– FROM the Patient File
– WHERE sex=“Male” AND age>50 AND Diagnosis = (“Diabetes”
OR “Hypertension”) AND NOT Address = “Quezon City”

8. • The foregoing query conforms to the basic
form o a Structured Query Language (SQL)
query:
– SELECT … FROM … WHERE
• It also makes use of the three logical
operators in Boolean logic
– AND
– OR
– AND NOT

9. • The logical operator
“AND” means that the
data element must
appear in each set.
• For example, if the
query asks what
number is in Circle A
AND in Circle B, then
this would mean the
numbers “5” and “6”.
The Venn Diagram above consists of 3
circles, labelled A, B, and C.
In Circle A are the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and
6
In Circle B are the numbers 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9
In Circle C are the numbers 4, 5, 9, 10, and
11)

10. • The logical operator “OR”
means that the data
element must appear in
either set, but not
necessarily both.
• For example, if the query
asks what number is in
Circle A OR in Circle B,
then this would mean the
numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,
8, and 9.
The Venn Diagram above consists of 3
circles, labelled A, B, and C.
In Circle A are the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and
6
In Circle B are the numbers 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9
In Circle C are the numbers 4, 5, 9, 10, and
11)

11. • The logical operator
“AND NOT” means that
the data element must
not appear in the set
specificed.
• For example, if the query
asks what number is in
Circle A AND NOT in
Circle B, then this would
mean the numbers 1, 2, 3
and 4.
The Venn Diagram above consists of 3
circles, labelled A, B, and C.
In Circle A are the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and
6
In Circle B are the numbers 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9
In Circle C are the numbers 4, 5, 9, 10, and
11)

12. • Indicate the numbers that are specified by the
queries (3 queries in each slide).
• When we reconvene in the chat room, be
ready to volunteer to post your answer.
• You may volunteer by typing “RAISE query 1”,
then “RAISE query 2”, etc. until “RAISE query
6”.
• Have fun!

13. 1
2 3
5
6 7
8
9
1011
A B
C
1. A AND B AND C
2. A AND NOT C
3. A AND (B OR C)
4
From the slide set of the Asia Pacific Center for EBM, 2003

14. 1
2 3
5
6 7
8
9
1011
MALE DIABETIC
>50 YRS OLD
4. (MALE AND DIABETIC) OR >50 yrs old
5. (MALE AND DIABETIC) AND NOT >50 yrs old
6. (DIABETIC AND >50 yrs old) AND NOT MALE
4
From the slide set of the Asia Pacific Center for EBM, 2003