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Encyclopedia of Database Systems pp 2680–2681Cite as

Sparse Index

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Synonyms

Non-dense Index

Definition

Consider a tree-based index on some numeric attribute A of a relation R. If an index record (of the form <search-key, pointer>) is created for some of the values that appear in attribute A, then this index is sparse.

Key Points

Tree-based indices are built on numeric attributes and maintain an order among the indexed search-key values. Hence, they provide efficient access to the records of a relation by attribute value. Consider for example an index built on attribute A of relation R. The leaf pages of the index contain index-records of the form <search-key, pointer>, where search-key corresponds to a value from the indexed attribute A and pointer points to the respective record in the indexed relation R with that attribute value. If not all distinct values that appear in R.A also appear in index records, this index is sparse, otherwise it is called dense.

A sparse index needs a way to access even the relation records with values that do not directly...

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Recommended Reading

  1. Elmasri and Ramez Navathe. Shamkant B. Fundamentals of Database Systems (5th edn.). Addisson-Wesley, Reading, MA, 2007.

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  2. Manolopoulos, Yannis Theodoridis, and Yannis Tsotras. Vassilis J. Advanced Database Indexing. Kluwer, Dordecht, 1999.

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  3. Silberschatz, Avi Korth, and Henry F. S. Sudarshan Database System Concepts (5th edn.). McGraw-Hill, NY, 2006.

    Google Scholar 

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porte Alegre, Brazil

    Mirella M. Moro

  2. University of California-Riverside, Riverside, CA, USA

    Vassilis J. Tsotras

Authors
  1. Mirella M. Moro
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  2. Vassilis J. Tsotras
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. College of Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology, 266 Ferst Drive, 30332-0765, Atlanta, GA, USA

    LING LIU (Professor) (Professor)

  2. Database Research Group David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, N2L 3G1, Waterloo, ON, Canada

    M. TAMER ÖZSU (Professor and Director, University Research Chair) (Professor and Director, University Research Chair)

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© 2009 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

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Moro, M.M., Tsotras, V.J. (2009). Sparse Index. In: LIU, L., ÖZSU, M.T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Database Systems. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-39940-9_759

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