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A query algorithm based on homomorphism counts is a procedure for determining whether a given instance satisfies a property by counting homomorphisms between the given instance and finitely many predetermined instances. In a left query algorithm, we count homomorphisms from the predetermined instances to the given instance, while in a right query algorithm we count homomorphisms from the given instance to the predetermined instances. Homomorphisms are usually counted over the semiring ℕ of non-negative integers; it is also meaningful, however, to count homomorphisms over the Boolean semiring 𝔹, in which case the homomorphism count indicates whether or not a homomorphism exists. We first characterize the properties that admit a left query algorithm over 𝔹 by showing that these are precisely the properties that are both first-order definable and closed under homomorphic equivalence. After this, we turn attention to a comparison between left query algorithms over 𝔹 and left query algorithms over ℕ. In general, there are properties that admit a left query algorithm over ℕ but not over 𝔹. The main result of this paper asserts that if a property is closed under homomorphic equivalence, then that property admits a left query algorithm over 𝔹 if and only if it admits a left query algorithm over ℕ. In other words and rather surprisingly, homomorphism counts over ℕ do not help as regards properties that are closed under homomorphic equivalence. Finally, we characterize the properties that admit both a left query algorithm over 𝔹 and a right query algorithm over 𝔹. 

Datalog^∘ is an extension of Datalog, where instead of a program being a collection of union of conjunctive queries over the standard Boolean semiring, a program may now be a collection of sum-product queries over an arbitrary commutative partially ordered pre-semiring. Datalog^∘ is more powerful than Datalog in that its additional algebraic structure alows for supporting recursion with aggregation. At the same time, Datalog^∘ retains the syntactic and semantic simplicity of Datalog: Datalog^∘ has declarative least fixpoint semantics. The least fixpoint can be found via the naïve evaluation algorithm that repeatedly applies the immediate consequence operator until no further change is possible. It was shown in [Mahmoud Abo Khamis et al., 2022] that, when the underlying semiring is p-stable, then the naïve evaluation of any Datalog^∘ program over the semiring converges in a finite number of steps. However, the upper bounds on the rate of convergence were exponential in the number n of ground IDB atoms. This paper establishes polynomial upper bounds on the convergence rate of the naïve algorithm on linear Datalog^∘ programs, which is quite common in practice. In particular, the main result of this paper is that the convergence rate of linear Datalog^∘ programs under any p-stable semiring is O(pn³). Furthermore, we show a matching lower bound by constructing a p-stable semiring and a linear Datalog^∘ program that requires Ω(pn³) iterations for the naïve iteration algorithm to converge. Next, we study the convergence rate in terms of the number of elements in the semiring for linear Datalog^∘ programs. When L is the number of elements, the convergence rate is bounded by O(pn log L). This significantly improves the convergence rate for small L. We show a nearly matching lower bound as well. 

Data analytics skills have become an indispensable part of any education that seeks to prepare its students for the modern workforce. Essential in this skill set is the ability to work with structured relational data. Relational queries are based on logic and may be declarative in nature, posing new challenges to novices and students. Manual teaching resources being limited and enrollment growing rapidly, automated tools that help students debug queries and explain errors are potential game-changers in database education. We present a suite of tools built on the foundations of database theory that has been used by over 1600 students in database classes at Duke University, showcasing a high-impact application of database theory in database education. 

We are given a set 𝒵 = {(R_1,s_1), …, (R_n,s_n)}, where each R_i is a range in ℝ^d, such as rectangle or ball, and s_i ∈ [0,1] denotes its selectivity. The goal is to compute a small-size discrete data distribution 𝒟 = {(q₁,w₁),…, (q_m,w_m)}, where q_j ∈ ℝ^d and w_j ∈ [0,1] for each 1 ≤ j ≤ m, and ∑_{1≤j≤m} w_j = 1, such that 𝒟 is the most consistent with 𝒵, i.e., err_p(𝒟,𝒵) = 1/n ∑_{i = 1}ⁿ |s_i - ∑_{j=1}^m w_j⋅1(q_j ∈ R_i)|^p is minimized. In a database setting, 𝒵 corresponds to a workload of range queries over some table, together with their observed selectivities (i.e., fraction of tuples returned), and 𝒟 can be used as compact model for approximating the data distribution within the table without accessing the underlying contents. In this paper, we obtain both upper and lower bounds for this problem. In particular, we show that the problem of finding the best data distribution from selectivity queries is NP-complete. On the positive side, we describe a Monte Carlo algorithm that constructs, in time O((n+δ^{-d}) δ^{-2} polylog n), a discrete distribution 𝒟̃ of size O(δ^{-2}), such that err_p(𝒟̃,𝒵) ≤ min_𝒟 err_p(𝒟,𝒵)+δ (for p = 1,2,∞) where the minimum is taken over all discrete distributions. We also establish conditional lower bounds, which strongly indicate the infeasibility of relative approximations as well as removal of the exponential dependency on the dimension for additive approximations. This suggests that significant improvements to our algorithm are unlikely.