Re: What is a tuple?

On Tue, 25 Jun 2002 14:40:03 -0700
Elaine Lindelef <eel@cognitivity.com> wrote:

> My apologies for the stupid question, but before I started using
> postgres I never came across the word "tuple" quite in this context
> before. I know  a "tuple" as "a data object containing two or more
> components" ... but I'm not sure of its precise meaning in the
> postgres universe. Is a tuple a row, a field value, a field value
> paired with its datatype, what? If someone asks me the size of my
> largest tuple, how do I calculate it? It seems to be related deeply
> to the structure of postgres somehow.
>

    A 'tuple' is not a database - nor PostgreSQL - term.  It is a
mathimatical term meaing a set.  Withen the context of databases, a tuple
is always a row.  'Tuples' refers to the tuple set, or row set.