Relational Set Operators
A relational database model allows database users to analyze data thoroughly. To accomplish this, advanced commands such as “union” and “intersect” may be used.
- Describe a business scenario where a “union” relational set operator may be used to merge two similar data sets.
- Analyze the analysis and data consistency advantages of using a “union” operator rather than simply merging two data sets into one result table, within the context of your business scenario.
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Describe a business scenario where a “union” relational set operator may be used to merge two similar data sets,
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Analyze the analysis and data consistency advantages of using a “union” operator rather than simply merging two data sets into one result table,
✅ Comprehensive General Answer
A practical business scenario where a UNION operator is useful occurs in a multi-store retail company that maintains separate customer purchase tables for each location. For example, Store A and Store B might each track customer loyalty activity independently in tables with the same structure:
When leadership wants to analyze the entire organization’s customer base (e.g., for marketing or revenue forecasting), they could combine these tables using:
✅ Advantages of Using UNION Instead of Simply Merging Tables
1️⃣ Data Consistency Through Automatic Duplicate Removal
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UNIONremoves duplicate rows by default. -
If the same customer shops at both stores, their record appears only once in the result set.
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This preserves data integrity and prevents double-counting during analysis such as:
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Total customer unique count
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Email marketing campaigns (avoiding duplicate sends)
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Loyalty reward calculations
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Without UNION, manually merging (appending) datasets could create inconsistencies that distort business decisions.
2️⃣ Efficient Analysis Without Permanently Modifying Data
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UNIONdoes not require altering existing production tables. -
The combined dataset is query-based, not stored permanently.
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Analysts can generate different merged views on demand based on business needs:
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Seasonal shopping analysis
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Regional vs. company-wide trends
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Customer segmentation studies
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This supports dynamic reporting while maintaining clean, isolated operational datasets.
✅ Summary
The UNION operator provides a cleaner, more reliable way to aggregate structured datasets across business units. It helps remove redundant rows automatically and avoids the risks and costs of physically merging data into a new table. As a result, leadership receives accurate, consistent, and scalable analytical insights — essential for data-driven decision making in modern organizations.



