16/2/22, 22:28 Databases in data analytics | Coursera
Databases in data analytics
Databases enable analysts to manipulate, store, and process data. This helps them search
through data a lot more efficiently to get the best insights.
Relational databases
A relational database is a database that contains a series of tables that can be connected to
show relationships. Basically, they allow data analysts to organize and link data based on what
the data has in common.
In a non-relational table, you will find all of the possible variables you might be interested in
analyzing all grouped together. This can make it really hard to sort through. This is one reason
why relational databases are so common in data analysis: they simplify a lot of analysis
processes and make data easier to find and use across an entire database.
The key to relational databases
Tables in a relational database are connected by the fields they have in common. You might
remember learning about primary and foreign keys before. As a quick refresher, a primary key
is an identifier that references a column in which each value is unique. In other words, it's a
column of a table that is used to uniquely identify each record within that table. The value
assigned to the primary key in a particular row must be unique within the entire table. For
example, if customer_id is the primary key for the customer table, no two customers will ever
have the same customer_id.
By contrast, a foreign key is a field within a table that is a primary key in another table. A table
can have only one primary key, but it can have multiple foreign keys. These keys are what create
the relationships between tables in a relational database, which helps organize and connect data
across multiple tables in the database.
Some tables don't require a primary key. For example, a revenue table can have multiple foreign
keys and not have a primary key. A primary key may also be constructed using multiple columns
of a table. This type of primary key is called a composite key. For example, if customer_id and
location_id are two columns of a composite key for a customer table, the values assigned to
those fields in any given row must be unique within the entire table.
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16/2/22, 22:28 Databases in data analytics | Coursera
SQL? You’re speaking my language
Databases use a special language to communicate called a query language. Structured Query
Language (SQL) is a type of query language that lets data analysts communicate with a
database. So, a data analyst will use SQL to create a query to view the specific data that they
want from within the larger set. In a relational database, data analysts can write queries to get
data from the related tables. SQL is a powerful tool for working with databases — which is why
you are going to learn more about it coming up!
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